Episode 11 Noise Squad

All over the UK, millions of people just like you and me

are being driven up the wall by anti-social nuisance noise.

There are times you almost feel like you are going mad.

And it's all stress, it leads to stress.

Persistent parties,

aggravating alarms...

ALARM WAILS

..and barking dogs.

DOG BARKS

They're keeping us awake, disturbing our peace and quiet,

and driving us to despair.

It really is stressful and irritating.

But the fight back is on.

You need to come and speak to us, we're getting complaints.

Across the country, dedicated enforcement teams

are getting to grips with nuisance noise, 24/7.

You need to keep it turned down, and keep the voices down.

You can't just leave it and let them get away with it.

You have to keep going on and on and on.

Enough is enough. It's time to put an end to nuisance noise.

We can go and get a warrant and take your stuff away, shall we?

It's time to meet the no-nonsense noise squad.

Coming up today on Noise Squad.

Officers get tough with a noisy party

whose music is keeping residents awake into the early hours.

We would like the music off.

Off. Now.

And we won't leave till the music is off.

Specialist recording equipment is used to help gather the evidence

needed to sort out a rattling refrigeration unit.

It is quite annoying, and I'm sure there are things that the shop or the pub could do.

And the team are hoping that when they knock on the door of this noisy party,

everyone is fully clothed.

Sounds to me like there might be a male stripper.

A load of women watching a male stripper!

Whether it be a birthday, anniversary or just a get-together for friends and family,

parties are a chance for us to let our hair down.

But if you live next door and you haven't got an invite,

noisy parties that go on into the early hours

can often leave us pulling out our hair and driving us to despair.

I would hear country music coming from below me,

especially REM, Everybody Hurts

at three or four in the morning, every night.

This music was turned on at full volume

and no matter how many times I asked the person to stop it,

it was just happening over and over and over, and it was driving me insane, basically.

All over the country, noise squads have serious powers to deal with nuisance noise,

and as a last resort they can confiscate equipment from persistent offenders

who just won't put a sock in it.

It was lucky for him he was home, because I would've taken everything.

Tonight, Anuja Jayawickrema is on shift with her partner Dave Stewart in Westminster.

Between them, they have over 20 years' experience on the job.

They've been called about an excessively loud party in Soho

that's keeping residents awake.

She said that there's a party on the first floor of an office block, and they've got bouncers at the door.

She went and spoke to the bouncers and she asked them to turn it down, really nicely,

and they just sort of looked at her blankly, you know the ones that don't talk when...

It's really loud. She said she thinks it's like a club night, or something.

So we needs to go down there and have a look.

Dave and Anuja head off to investigate.

It's a short drive from noise squad HQ to where the party is being held.

It's almost 1:00am when they arrive in the area, and their first job

is to track down exactly where this nuisance noise is coming from.

Is that their music? It is, isn't it?

The music can clearly be heard on the street,

and it leads them straight to the party.

That's disgusting.

It's up there.

You see the strobe lights on the second floor?

That's where it is. But we could hear it from quarter of a mile away, couldn't we?

With the bass booming upstairs,

Anuja and Dave head for the door and are met by two bouncers.

Hello. I'm from Westminster Council.

Can you get someone who's in charge?

With nearby residents being kept awake by this incredibly loud party,

Anuja and Dave are keen to get the music turned down as quickly as possible.

-Can we come through?

-He's just going to come.

OK, can you let us through?

-Can you let us through into the foyer?

-No.

It seems their names and aren't down and they're not getting in,

but when it comes to tackling anti-social nuisance noise,

Anuja's not a woman to give up easily.

We can go and get a warrant and take his stuff away, shall we?

We don't even need a warrant. It's commercial.

Ordinarily, officers need a warrant to seize equipment.

But as this party appears to be being held on commercial premises,

Anuja and Dave won't need one.

With no sign of the organisers, the music continues to boom out.

The level is just ridiculous.

I mean, they think cos it's an office and there's no-one around in the block,

that they can just do what they want.

The windows are open.

I'm going to serve a notice and I'm going to ask them

to close all the windows and turn the music down.

A noise abatement notice means that the organisers will have a legal obligation

to turn the music down.

If they won't do it, then we may have to just stop the party.

There's no sign of anyone coming to meet them.

Is there any idea how long it's going to be for someone to come down?

Anuja and Dave wait...

I'm just writing a notice out while we wait for the people in charge.

It's just taking too long.

..and wait...

I can't believe we've waited now ten minutes.

Does he not have a phone?

..and wait.

-Come on, you've got to get someone here.

-Now.

Or we're going to stop the party.

One of the organisers appears.

Right. Why have we waited 15 minutes for you to come down?

I'm so sorry. We're organising a charity event tonight.

I'm sorry it's loud, we didn't think there were many residents here.

Apparently, this is a charity event,

but the organiser won't do what Anuja and Dave are asking him to do.

And Anuja's not in a charitable mood.

With the music so loud,

this is a serious nuisance noise problem that needs sorting,

so they call for police back up.

It's Westminster's noise team, can we get the police, please?

They're being very obstructive.

We need the police first to stop the party.

As they wait for the police to arrive,

a second organizer appears in what I hope is fancy dress,

and Anuja shows them part of the problem.

Look at these windows open.

The window's open round the other side as well.

Those are the corridors, you don't understand how hot it is in there.

I don't care.

Why are you being so aggressive?

You have to be responsible.

With residents being kept awake into the early hours by this anti-social nuisance noise,

Anuja and Dave are laying down the law.

I think if we get the notice served, get the music off.

I'm sorry, I'll be honest, everything right now is on me.

I'm the person who's running it right now.

The important thing that you need to get into your head is if you don't stop this nuisance...

How do you define nuisance?

Oh, come on, you can hear this.

We don't need to be upstairs, we can hear it out here.

We would like the music off. Off. Now.

And we won't leave till the music is off.

The police are on their way.

We will use the police to go in here and we'll just take the system away.

We don't even need a warrant, so we don't.

OK? Cos it's commercial premises.

Things are getting serious.

By refusing to turn the music off, the organisers of this party

are now risking having their equipment confiscated.

-So, you have a choice.

-Define commercial premises.

ANUJA LAUGHS

We're not here to play 20 Questions.

It's an office, it's used for commercial use.

It's not used for commercial use any more.

Right. You can argue that in court with us.

In the fight against nuisance noise, Anuja is a formidable foe.

With nearby residents being kept awake,

she and Dave are determined to sort this problem out.

But this is proving to be a difficult case.

-Is that music going to go off now?

-I don't hear any music any more.

Listen.

Now can you hear the music?

With no sign of the music going off,

the police will soon be rolling in as the party pushes Anuja's patience to the limit.

So the bottom line is, this music is going off.

But that won't be the end of this problem party.

I've just spoken to the complainant and she said the music's creeping back up.

Can you hear this? I mean that is just ridiculous.

When it comes to nuisance noise, you might be forgiven for thinking

that it's something that only really affects people in big towns and cities.

But you'd be wrong.

In the picturesque countryside just outside York,

a rattling refrigeration unit is spoiling the peace and quiet in this back garden.

Noise enforcement officers Craig Delorenzo and trainee Siobhan Metcalfe

are heading out to investigate.

We're just off to do some noise measurement of a local shop and a pub.

The complainant's not sure whether the noise is coming from

the refrigeration of the pub or of the shop.

So we're going to go down there, have a look at the site, and take some measurements of noise.

As temperatures rise, faulty refrigeration

and air conditioning units become more of a problem.

We tend to get more noise complaints in the summer.

People have their windows open, so they're more disturbed by the noise.

People are more likely to be outside.

And also this sort of thing with refrigeration units.

Because of the warm weather, it means that the refrigeration has to work harder

and sometimes, because of that, there can be faults on the refrigeration

and that causes the problem.

Craig has already been in touch with the shop and pub,

explaining that there's a problem,

and now he's on his way to find out how bad the problem is.

I've been contacted by both the businesses,

following letters that I've sent them,

and I think they'll be very grateful to find out one way or another

if it's them who's causing the problem.

The lady who called them to complain is a little camera shy,

but once in her back garden, Craig can hear the problem.

It's like having a lawn mower going in the background.

It's that kind of sound.

Siobhan unpacks some specialist noise measuring equipment.

In York, the team use this to help them determine

what action to take about alleged nuisance noise.

Siobhan's just putting out our sound level meter, which is used to measure noise.

It doesn't record any audio, like our other equipment,

this, literally, just records the decibel levels.

Everyone has to remain silent for a few minutes

so that they can get a clear measurement of how loud the problem noise is.

-It's quite noticeable.

-It is, yes.

Is it like this all the time? Has it always been like this?

It's particularly bad in summer, cos it's warm.

That's when we're out, of course.

That's why we think it's some kind of air conditioning.

Has it been like this for years, or is it just a recent thing?

We've been here ten years, and it's five or six they've been there.

Something like that. It seems to have gradually got worse.

There's no doubt that this unwelcome rattle

is ruffling a few feathers,

but it's not stopping everyone from enjoying the garden.

Because the refrigeration unit's on pretty much continuously,

what we'll do is find somewhere else in the estate where we can't hear it,

to take a background measurement of what you'd expect to hear in the area

if there wasn't any noise from the refrigeration unit.

Craig and Siobhan head off to a spot where the rattle can no longer be heard

to compare what this neck of the woods

should normally sound like.

I can't hear it here, can you?

Craig thinks that the rattling is a problem, and is gathering the evidence he needs

to make sure something is done about it.

From my personal assessment of what I heard, it is quite annoying.

And I'm sure there are things that the shop or the pub could do,

if it is their unit, to improve the situation.

And we'll do what we can to help the complainant.

Craig and Siobhan have the power to hand out a formal written notice

to commercial premises that they decide are responsible for nuisance noise.

This means that the businesses are legally required to fix the problem

and quieten down.

If they don't, they are committing a criminal offence

and can be prosecuted and fined.

Unfortunately, getting a true reading of the background levels of noise

in this neighbourhood proves to be easier said than done.

It's getting on to five o'clock now, and every time I do a recording today,

there seems be someone deciding to mow their lawn.

So I'm going to give up for today,

and I'll come back another day,

probably tomorrow, if the weather's nice,

just to get a background measurement.

Craig and Siobhan might be struggling to get the background reading they need,

but their day isn't over yet.

There are two suspects in this case, a local pub and a shop,

and they head over to see if they can pinpoint exactly which one of them is causing the problem.

With six years of noise-busting experience under his belt,

it doesn't take Craig long to pick out the guilty party.

It's definitely coming from the shop rather than the pub.

I can hear the pub's units,

but it's the rattle that's coming from one particular unit

up on the shop

that seems to be the problem.

Craig's identified the problem, but that's only half the story.

We'll be with him shortly to find out if he can fix it

and restore peace and quiet to the neighbour's garden.

In Westminster, noise officers Anuja and Dave

are dealing with a noisy party

that's keeping local residents awake in the early hours.

That's disgusting.

With little co-operation from the organisers,

they've called for police backup, and as they wait for them to arrive,

they've tried to serve a noise abatement notice.

This is the notice. I've duly served it, if you'd like to read it.

-Sorry, what is it?

-It's a notice.

-Notice of what?

-Noise nuisance.

That, however, is proving to be easier said than done.

I'm just going to see the police.

He won't even take the notice.

-Hello.

-Did you call us?

Yes. We're from the noise team at Westminster.

There's a party on the second floor, you can see the strobe lights.

-Yeah.

-Apparently it's a charity thing.

Anuja explains the problem, and the police leave the organiser in no doubt about what's going to happen.

The bottom line is, the music is going off, OK?

-I'd appreciate...

-We're not here to argue with you, we're here to tell you.

With the police now on site,

one of the organisers seems to understand the seriousness of the situation,

and heads inside to turn the music down.

He's gone up there to turn it off. Turn it down.

Finally, things have quietened down.

A noise abatement notice has also been served.

It seems as though the problem's sorted.

It's the first time I think I can remember

I've had to call the police to serve a notice, in seven years.

As Anuja climbs back into the car, though, there's bad news.

Apparently there's been about four other complaints in the last ten minutes.

-It doesn't surprise me.

-I think we'll have to go back there.

The music has been turned back up.

Anuja decides to check back in with the original complainant.

So the level's gone back up, has it?

If he'd turned the music off, I think everybody would have just gone ballistic in there.

So far, this call has taken over an hour of Dave and Anuja's time.

It's time that could have been spent helping other people.

This situation is getting increasingly serious.

The organisers of the party have been served with a noise abatement notice,

which means they have a legal obligation to quieten down.

But with numerous local residents calling to complain that the music is back on

and keeping them awake, Anuja and Dave head back to the party.

Here we go, for a second round.

Ding-ding! Who's going to win this one?

I've spoken to the complainant, who said the music's creeping back up.

There's been complaints from other residents as well,

so we're going back to see if we can get them to turn it off.

Now, if we can't, we're going to have to call the police again.

It's obvious the volume has gone back up.

Can you hear this? I mean, that is ridiculous. Dave, shall we call the police?

Get them outside, first.

Well, they take a bit of time to come, don't they?

Hello, it's the noise team from Westminster Council.

Can we get some police assistance, please, to stop a party?

We've already come out.

We'd like to stop the music, but we can't do it on our own.

The police arrive, and Anuja explains the background to the officers.

We served a notice with the police about an hour ago for noise from this party,

and we're getting complaints still. And the level...

We can't find the organisers now.

We want the music turned off.

With the police on site, one of the organisers appears,

and Anuja talks to him again.

Can we have the music off now, please?

To be honest, I would like to know what an acceptable decibel level is.

-Can we see your licence?

-It's not a question of licence.

Right, I think we'll just go do it with the police, then.

Enough is enough. It's time to shut this party down.

The police escort Anuja and Dave inside, and the music is turned off.

We've got it all turned off and said that if it goes back on again, we'll seize the equipment.

We spoke directly to the DJ, and we've told him

we'll take it all away from him and he may not get it back.

It's a very good result.

But those were two very, very good police officers, as well,

cos they just allowed us to do what we needed to do,

without any hesitation.

Job done, it's on to the next call.

Or maybe not.

It's back on, Anuja! It's back on.

The music's back on now.

This case is going from bad to worse,

and we'll be with Anuja and Dave as they take serious action,

and head inside to confiscate the DJ's equipment.

We want to seize the amplifier because they just will not listen.

In Belfast there'll be serious consequences for one noisy party holder

if he doesn't quieten down.

If we come back tonight, whoever lives here gets a £100 fine, right?

So, just keep it down, all right?

And in York, Craig and Siobhan are determined

to get their measurements right, whatever the conditions.

I think there's no lawn mowers. There's a bit of a breeze,

but I think we're going to get it this time.

All over the country, millions of people's lives are being ruined by noisy neighbours.

It feels like you're living with someone else,

you don't have peace in your home, it's a bit frustrating.

It's just the fact that you constantly know that there will be a noise from neighbours,

or whoever it is making the noise, and you can't get on with your life.

Noisy neighbours stop us getting to sleep, and crank up our stress levels.

I've known people who've had to move from their house, from their own home.

Like other big cities in the UK, Belfast in Northern Ireland has its fair share of noisy neighbours,

but the council's noise team are always quick to crackdown on nuisance noise.

Don't tell lies.

I've been standing outside watching you acting Jack-the-lad at the window.

Noise officers Philip and Tim have 13 years' experience on the job between them,

and know that when they're out on patrol, they always have to have their wits about them.

It's an interesting job because you always have to be on your toes, I suppose. You always have to be alert.

And that can be very draining at times, but at the same time it can be very rewarding.

It's the early hours of Friday morning,

and Tim and Philip are heading out to deal with a noisy neighbour

who they've been called out to in the past.

Complaint is for loud music and shouting from a property in east Belfast.

There was a complaint we received in the past where we had to bring in police assistance

for our own safety.

So we'll call in tonight, preferably we'll call with the complainant

just to assess the noise,

and if warranted, we'll try and get the noise resolved for him tonight again.

The gentleman who called them out has had enough.

They get drunk, start fighting, then they're out in the street...

That's a police matter. We can only deal with noise within the property.

I've called the police twice. In the street, it gets louder, louder, and with abusive language.

Banging doors, down the stairs. That means my daughter's awake, the wife's awake.

Three and four in the morning. I go to work. She doesn't.

When we served a warning notice on them, that was just for that one night,

and if it goes louder again, we'll serve another one. That'll be two on the property.

In general, if we serve three then we can put an Article 38,

which is a permanent noise abatement order, on the property.

If that's breached, then she'll be summoned to court and fined anything up to £5,000.

You know, we've been out here, we've witnessed significant noise before,

so we appreciate that you're not making it up.

By the same token the service has to be impartial, so we have to go on what noise we witness.

So, at the minute, we're not witnessing any actionable noise.

It's not that we don't believe you, the service requires us to be impartial

and action the noise that we witness.

The reason the council provides a night time service is that we can come out and witness the noise.

Anywhere else in Ireland, you get a voicemail at night.

It's not that there's not noise, but it's not legally actionable.

In order to take action, noise squad officers have to witness nuisance noise first hand.

In this instance, they can't hear anything untoward,

so there's nothing more they can do at the moment.

He feels that going on past performance we should be taking action.

The council service has to be impartial, and for us to be impartial,

we have to go on what we witness every time we go out.

There are people who don't get on with their neighbours and,

if you took everything at face value every time you went out,

then you could be making problems worse.

We have to be justified if we're going to somebody's door.

You can't go and say, "Allegedly there was noise here."

You have to witness the noise yourself to remain impartial.

With plenty of complaints to deal with,

Tim and Philip head off to investigate a complaint

about a party that's allegedly raising the roof.

When they arrive, it seems as though things are in full swing.

Philip calls the office to try and get some details about the property.

Tim goes to check it out, and when he comes back he has some unusual suspicions

about what's going on inside.

Sounds to me like there might be a male stripper.

HE LAUGHS

A load of women watching a male stripper!

Different councils deal with nuisance noise in slightly different ways.

In Belfast, if officers witness nuisance noise, they can serve a warning notice.

If that's breached on the same night,

the offender faces a potential £100 fine.

If a noise maker is given three warning notices,

they can be served with a permanent noise abatement order.

And if that's ignored, the guilty party can be taken to court

and fined anything from a few hundred to £5,000.

With ten years' experience on the Belfast noise squad,

nothing much surprises Tim. But when he knocks on the door,

he's hoping that this noise maker has left on more than just his hat.

Hi, we're from the Council's noise service.

-Can I speak to someone who lives here, please? Quite late at night.

-Sorry.

-You need to keep the music turned down.

-OK, I will.

and keep the voices and stuff down, OK?

-The Council can fine you £100, if we come back, and I don't want to do that.

-All right.

-So you need to keep it turned down, and keep your voices down.

-Sorry for that.

-As long as you sort it out, that's grand.

-We'll sort it out.

-Thank you, goodnight.

-Sorry for that.

It's good news. The person living here is co-operative,

and, just as importantly, everyone is fully clothed.

It wasn't a male stripper, it was, what looked like a guy with a pretty professional camera

who was taking photographs of them all.

If you're being disturbed by noisy neighbours,

there are things you can do to sort the problem out.

If you can, talk to the people who are causing the noise calmly.

You can also make a note of the time and type of noise that is bothering you.

That way, if you need to call the local council for help,

you can give them as much useful info as possible.

It's a busy night in Belfast, and before the city's noise squad head off to deal with their next call,

there's a changing of the guard.

Tim is being joined by Steve, and they're going to investigate two complaints about the same party.

We've got two complaints come in within a couple of minutes of each other about the same address.

One of the complainants says he's been down and knocked the door. It's a block of flats.

He's knocked the door but he couldn't get anybody to come to the door

because the music's too loud.

So we'll just call out and if that's the case, we'll try and get their attention.

And if we can't, we'll just serve the notice. And then if the noise persists, they'll get the fine.

When the lads arrive at the block of flats,

they go to speak with the party holder.

It's after two in the morning, and the music is too loud.

We're from the Council's noise service. Can I speak to someone who lives here, please?

As the lads wait at the door, the music is turned down.

Listen, mate. All I need you to do is keep the music turned down, OK?

There's people trying to sleep. It's late at night. If we come back tonight,

whoever lives here gets a £100 fine, all right? So keep it down, all right?

Tim and Steve have issued a warning notice.

If they have to come back to this address tonight, and the music hasn't been turned down,

this party holder could be getting a fine of £100.

A short while later, one of the complainants calls Tim to let him know that the music has stayed off.

Has it gone down a bit, or...? Right, it's off. Good.

No problem. Well, if you do need us, we're on till four, so give us a shout, OK? All right, cheers. Bye.

There was two complainants. That was the second complainant phoning back,

and he says the music has currently been turned off. So, a result.

It's been a busy but successful night for the Belfast noise squad,

and with the music off, it's another result and a job well done.

For the millions of people who visit London every year,

scenes like this are almost as familiar sights as Big Ben,

Trafalgar Square and the London Eye.

For those who live and work in the city, though,

the noise produced by buskers can sometimes be a bit of a problem.

It's Friday night, and Steve Pennington of Westminster Council's noise squad

is dealing with a complaint from a resident who says

a busker is causing a right commotion just a stone's throw from their flat.

Good evening, it's Environmental Health, Westminster Council noise team, here.

I understand you lodged a complaint about a problem in Argyll Street.

Playing the... He's got a drum kit out, has he?

All right, then. Cheers.

Take care. Bye, now.

Steve heads off, and when he arrives on the street

where the busker is reported to be playing,

he sets off in search of him.

Typical council official, armed with a folder and a pen.

Buskers beware.

OK, where's this busker?

He's either on a break, or he's not working hard enough.

As he walks up the street, right on cue, the busker starts playing.

DRUMS CRASH

Just have a listen.

How inventive, he's using bins and pots and pans.

Busking isn't illegal in Westminster, and buskers don't have to have a licence to perform.

But if they make too much racket and cause a nuisance,

the Council's noise squad have the powers to deal with them.

And even though he's not able to get in touch with the complainant again,

Steve decides his drumming could be keeping people awake.

It's time to draw the curtain on this performance.

I'm going to tell you what the rules are, OK?

You can play for half an hour in any one place, OK, then you've got to move.

You've got to go 300 metres away, otherwise you're disturbing the same people.

I think it's good music. I thought it was great, but there's residents, and they get it every night.

This chap is being friendly and co-operative, and he claims to have once played with the stars.

I used to play for a lot of famous people. Stevie Wonder, Christina Aguilera, Queen...

You're very talented.

Council know me. I'm a tax payer, I'm a good guy. I don't smoke, I don't drink.

So when I'm in the street, I give good example to people.

He also agrees to abide by the rules.

So what I will do, I play half an hour and I move.

Do half an hour, move along, just...

You do your job.

Great stuff. OK, take it easy. Cheers.

This kind of case can sometimes be difficult for Steve and his colleagues,

but this time, he's got a result.

A situation like that, there's somebody entertaining the West End crowds.

People are here for entertainment, and that's what they're getting.

Of course, a council official comes along, in their eyes, a killjoy.

Of course, what they don't realise is, there's a block of flats within 20 metres away,

and they get this regularly.

They're trying to enjoy their evening, they're trying to get to sleep.

There might be small children there, and they can't.

So, as I say, there's a clash there between what different people want.

After having a word, there were no further complaints about the busker that evening,

and no further action was needed.

In York, noise enforcement officer Craig Delorenzo and trainee Siobhan Metcalfe

are dealing with a shop's noisy refrigeration unit

that's disturbing one local resident's peace and quiet in her back garden.

In order to serve a formal written notice

that would mean the shop would be legally obliged to sort the problem out,

Craig needs to hear what the noise levels usually are in this neck of the woods

so he can decide if the refrigeration unit is causing a noise nuisance.

Today we're going back out to the village where we had the complaint about the shop yesterday.

We're just going to take a background measurement.

Not quite as nice a day, today, but as long as the rain holds off,

we should be able to get a good measurement.

Far enough away from the complainant's home

that they can't hear the noise of the refrigeration unit,

Craig's confident that today's the day they'll get the measurement they need.

I think there's no lawn mowers.

There's a bit of a breeze, but I think we're going to get it this time.

He's spot on. Without any interruptions, they get the recording they need.

I've managed to get a five minute measurement now of the background noise levels.

Some other noise sources today, but I think it was representative

of what you'd normally hear here, so that should be all done

and ready to go back to the office and compare the two readings.

Compared to late night parties, this rattling refrigeration unit

might not seem like the most serious problem in the world,

but it's preventing at least one local resident from enjoying her garden, and it needs to be sorted.

Back at the office, Craig calls the village shop's health and safety officer

to update her on his findings.

The results of that was that the problem is of marginal significance.

So there is a bit of a problem with the chiller units there.

Now, I went round to the shop, and saw what the setup was like,

and they've got a bank of air conditioning units at the back,

and then there's also the chiller unit.

And the noise was coming from the chiller unit, and it had a bit of a rattle on it.

So it may need an engineer to go out and have a look at it just to see what the problem is.

If you got rid of the rattle, then I'm sure it wouldn't be any problem at all,

it's just the rattling which is causing a problem.

All right, no problem. Thanks a lot. Bye.

A couple of days later, Craig gets a call to say that the problem has been fixed,

so he heads out to check he's happy with what's been done.

I spoke to the manager yesterday and he said that there was a problem with the casing of the unit.

A couple of screws had come loose, so he just tightened them up and that seems to have resolved the problem.

Craig drives to the village.

Has the rattle been eradicated, or will he have to take further action?

I'm just listening now. I can hear that there is some sort of unit on at the moment,

but it's much quieter and there's no annoying rattle to it now.

Craig's happy, and he jumps back in the car.

Working with companies is much easier than working with individuals,

and this is a perfect example of that, where we identified that there was a problem,

and they resolved it as soon as they could.

Back at base, Craig lets the local resident who called him in,

know that the shop have fixed the problem.

What they've done is they've got an engineer out this time to look at it.

I've asked the manager to do weekly checks on it just to see if there are any problems.

It turns out the rattle was coming from that loose screw in the refrigeration unit,

which, luckily, was a quick and easy fix.

If it starts causing a problem again in future, then please let me know, and I'll see what I can do.

I feel like I've resolved the problem.

The manager's found a cheap solution to ensure that it doesn't cause a problem to the neighbours,

and the neighbours are happy

that I've been and identified what the problem was

and solved it.

Job done, I'm just about to close the case.

Nicely done, Craig. As the man said - job done, case closed.

In Westminster, noise officers Anuja and Dave

are dealing with a noisy party in an office block

that's keeping local residents awake into the early hours.

This call has taken up so much time

that Anuja and Dave could have used to help other people,

and it's also used up valuable police time, too.

With police help, the music was turned off.

But now it's back on, blaring into the night

and keeping people awake. Enough is enough.

We want to seize the amplifier because they just will not listen.

Anuja and Dave have decided to confiscate the equipment that's making the noise inside

with police backup.

As they believe this party is taking place

on commercial premises, they don't need a magistrate's warrant to do it.

Can you leave the lights on, please?

There are around 200 party goers inside.

CHANTING AND CLAPPING

After a tense five minutes...

Oh, my God!

..they seize the DJ's equipment and the party's over.

That's a brilliant result, so it is. Let me tell you.

Well, it killed the party.

It certainly did!

The outcome is, we've seized the DJ's equipment,

and I've left our details to pass on to the DJ

because he'll want his equipment back,

but we can hold it for 28 days.

We'll have to make investigations as to who's responsible for these premises.

We'll try and get away as quickly as possible.

With the equipment confiscated, the team head back to the office.

We've spent the best part of two hours on this,

and how many police officers' time? Six officers' time, it's ridiculous. I've never met such difficult people.

I mean, they're not youngsters, are they? They're all adults.

They're, like, in their 20s, maybe even 30s.

Ooh, God. Is that them coming? Come on, let's get in the car.

They jump into the car, and Anuja calls the original complainant to let her know what's happened.

Have you managed to get any rest? Oh, right.

Well, we've gone in with the police again, and we've taken some of their equipment,

the DJ's equipment, because they just would not leave it off.

Dave's a founder member of the Westminster noise team and has 18 years' worth of experience,

but it was still a tense moment confiscating the equipment.

Right at the end, just after Dave took the equipment,

they were all sort of swarming in on us by the decks.

-I did feel slightly threatened.

-I'm sure you did.

-But the...

-The police were really good.

-They were excellent

That level of noise is a rave you'd expect in the middle of nowhere, in a field, you know.

Yeah, absolutely right

Not in Westminster, in the middle of Soho.

Well, to tell you this, they won't do it again.

God, I hope not. I mean, we don't get raves like that any more in Westminster really, do you?

In the old days, we used to get much louder parties than we generally get nowadays.

So that was an exceptionally loud party by Westminster standards.

By any standards.

Yeah, by any standards.

-We could hear it a quarter of a mile away.

-Oh, easily.

It's not been an easy night for Anuja and Dave.

Such a waste of time.

Because there would have been so many other jobs that we could have gone to.

Other people who need assistance, you know. It was totally unnecessary.

Hello!

Back in the calm of the office, Anuja starts the paperwork.

We tag it and bag it and keep a record of it and put it downstairs

in the evidence room.

This is the evidence room.

Tomorrow I'm going to ring the number and see what he says,

or we'll wait for them to contact us.

Come on, then.

Following the call out,

the organisers of the party have been invited in to the noise squad's office

to be given a warning. The DJ has still not collected his equipment.

It's been another busy shift for the noise squad.

They've dealt with faulty refrigeration units, and a whole host of noisy parties.

We would like the music off.

Off. Now. And we won't leave till the music is off.

There's no let up in the battle against anti-social nuisance noise.

And plenty more cases still to be dealt with, by the noise squad.

Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd.

Email [email protected]