Angry farmers have condemned organisers of illegal raves for endangering their animals.

Hundreds of trespassers have gathered on two occasions at Coombes Farm, near Lancing, in the past two weeks.

Police were called to both raves but the Passmore family, which has run the farm for more than 100 years, were told there was little officers could do because the raves were being held on private land.

Up to 500 people were believed to have arrived for the latest rave on Saturday night.

Some of them were still there yesterday afternoon.

The Passmores had given members of a model flying club permission to use the fields for a family festival weekend.

Jenny Passmore, who runs the farm with her brother Trevor, said: "The flying club were legitimately staying in the field with our permission and then they were disrupted by these people coming along and cars driving in to the field.

"They called us around midnight to say there was a rave going on 200m away.

"We called the police but there was little they could do. Part of the problem is that police resources are stretched.

"I'm not criticising the policemen involved. It's more the fact that there aren't enough around to deal with things when incidents like this happen.

"It's not just us that are affected by this. Other farms have the same problems."

The Passmores are not supposed to lock the gates to their fields because there are footpaths and bridleways on the land.

Mr Passmore said the ravers had been into a barn which is used to store bales of hay and livestock feed.

He said: "All it would take is one match and the whole lot could go up. Not only do we lose out but somebody could be badly hurt.

"The noise and disruption also affects our sheep who are frightened by it all and because the gates are left open they could get anywhere.

"We are also worried about broken glass, which could be particularly dangerous for the livestock.

"It is bad enough they go on to our land but to go into our barn as well just makes things worse."

The farmers estimate it would cost between £2,500 and £3,000 to put in locks and dig ditches around the farm gates to stop people getting in.

Mr Passmore said: "I don't see why I should have to fork out all that extra money to stop these people from breaking on to our land and causing these problems.

"Any digging like that will also scar the Downs themselves and we are not keen on doing that either but we need to protect our livestock."

This is not the first time the Passmore's have had problems.

Earlier this year The Argus reported how farm gates had been stolen, putting livestock at risk and costing hundreds of pounds to replace.

In the past few weeks at least five stolen cars have been taken up on to the land and set alight.

Sussex Police said there were no reports of any serious incidents with the rave at the weekend but said it was a problem officers were often called to deal with.

He said police would usually use powers under public order offences to disperse certain raves if any major problems developed.