Twelve people have been arrested and 350 cautioned over drug offences at the Global Gathering music event.

Crime at the festival, near Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire, was slightly up on last year, according to a spokesman for Warwickshire Police.

Only one serious crime was reported in which a man, in his late 20s, was assaulted near the outside arena during the early hours of yesterday.

He was taken to Alexandra Hospital, in Redditch, with injuries to his head, face and body.

The spokesman said overt policing and some covert intelligence-based police work led to high policing of the festival.

He said there had been a 40 per cent increase on drug possession cautions compared to last year.

Most of the offences were detected by sniffer dogs at the entrance to the site, where officers policed lines of visitors waiting to go into the event.

S everal people were arrested in relation to a stolen vehicle, disqualified driving and also drink and drug offences and a number of uninsured vehicles were seized.

A total of 80 crimes were reported, mostly relating to thefts from tents and a small number of thefts from motor vehicles.

Chief Inspector Chris Lewis, from Warwickshire Police, said: "Overall the festival has gone well, with the vast majority of young people behaving themselves and with only a small number of crimes reported.

"However, there has been a serious assault early this morning and detectives would like to hear from anyone who has information to help with police inquiries."

Anyone with information about the assault should call Stratford CID on 01926 415000.