Episode 6 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.

A living nightmare, it's like I don't want to be here any more.

Persistent parties,

aggravating alarms and banging builders.

They're keeping us awake,

disturbing our peace and quiet and driving us to despair.

It makes me feel I don't seem to have much right as a human being, really.

But the fight back is on.

You need to come down, we're getting complaints about the noise.

Across the country dedicated enforcement teams

are getting to grips with nuisance noise 24/seven.

You need to make sure you're not disturbing anybody.

The assessment at 11:15 was,

the noise from here was too loud at that time.

Enough is enough.

It's time to put an end to nuisance noise.

You couldn't do much work with that going on.

We're here today to seize some equipment because of an offence committed over the weekend.

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

Cracking down on nuisance noise today

the Noise Squad tackle a street party with a blasting loud speaker.

LOUD MUSIC

A noisy pub's live music

and chattering customers are driving local residents mad.

The noise was sufficient with the window open for those people

to be affected if they were trying to sleep.

And officers are making sure that the noise levels from a big screen

don't create a nuisance.

My view is the worst case scenario,

in terms of disturbance, is what we're here to look at.

Westminster, in the heart of London,

is home to around a quarter of a million people

and when the temperature goes up,

so do the complaints to the council's Noise Squad.

Summer time is always a busy time for us, because people are out more,

there's more drinking going on, doors and windows are open.

It's a cocktail that results in more noise complaints.

And the noise spreading further than it normally would.

When we get a warm weekend we know we're going to be busy.

George Christian has worked for the Noise Team for three years

and when it comes to dealing with nuisance noise makers,

he's not afraid to get tough in order to solve the problem.

What I'd like to do is serve you with a Section 60 notice just to

make sure that you actually conform to the acceptable times in future.

It's a hot and balmy bank holiday weekend and a call comes in.

Right, was it an amplifier or just acoustic?

A resident on the Embankment has had an earful of a busker's loud music.

What we need to do is go down there and just see who it is,

if it's someone we know, and try and work out what's causing the nuisance.

Apparently he has got an amplifier, so we need to see what's going on.

The Embankment is a busy street and it's easy to understand why

buskers would pitch themselves here, but people live nearby

and at half past ten in the evening they're getting ready for bed.

George jumps into the car and heads off.

I don't like dealing with family noise,

people complaining about children running around, you know,

loud parties and even alarms are quite challenging.

But, like any job, there are bits you like and bits you don't like.

But most of it's pretty good.

Buskers are quite interesting,

most of them are characters.

They've been busking for a while, they're street based,

they're normally quite street smart,

they've led quite interesting lives quite often, so they're,

to speak to, they're quite entertaining,

then again quite challenging.

I don't know who this guy is, but we're going to find out,

and he's going to be in this area here, Embankment Tube Station.

This is a regular site for buskers and we have got some flats

just round the corner and I think the buskers quite often forget

that people do live on the street, noisy though it is.

Busking isn't illegal in Westminster,

with the exception of Covent Garden and The Underground,

buskers don't need a licence to perform.

If they're making too much of a racket though, it doesn't matter what

time of the day it is, the Noise Team have the powers to deal with them.

George's sound monitoring equipment

confirms what his ears have already told him.

The music is too loud

and it's against the law to have a speaker on the street at this time of night.

Time to move in and have a word.

A quick word, the reason I've come is because we've had complaints

from some of the residents up the street.

OK.

I know it's a regular site for buskers,

sometimes they cause problems, sometimes they don't.

You've finished playing now?

I know you're trying, I know you're trying.

OK, thanks very much.

The busker is cooperative and agrees to move on.

I've asked him to move on.

If he hadn't moved on we could have served a notice,

to legally require him to move on, but he was quite compliant,

so he's going to move on and try and find another pitch elsewhere.

It's probably one of the noisiest pedestrian streets in London

and people do forget that there are residents here.

It's not everybody's place to want to live.

But there are flats, and if there are flats

then people still have rights to a reasonable amount of peace and quiet.

It's a quick and simple result for George but this is a busy night

and the calls keep coming in.

We can be with you in about ten minutes.

This is a loud music complaint.

Yes, it's been a bit unusual because it's warm

and, as you can see, there's a lot of drink gone down tonight

so there's some quite strange behaviour.

George's next call out is to a very different kind of noise

and it's a bleeping nuisance.

The job we're going to now,

it's a car alarm that's going off

but the car is actually in an underground car park in Paddington,

so I don't know if the car park is locked

or if it's open but the first thing we need to do is locate the car.

We can give one hour for a car alarm.

After that, if the nuisance carries on,

then we need to take action to abate the nuisance.

So that's when we actually get on the phone to our contractor

and get him to actually enter the vehicle and dismantle the alarm.

The problem is, the keeper of the vehicle then gets the bill for that,

so they're never very happy,

but it's either that or leave the thing to scream all night.

Different councils deal with nuisance noise in slightly different ways.

Here in Westminster,

if a car alarm sounds off for more than five minutes,

in a 15 minute period, it's considered to be a nuisance.

The team can serve a notice on the car,

which gives the owner a legal obligation to turn it off.

If they don't, officers can break into the car,

silence the alarm and the owner has to foot the bill.

When he arrives on site George is met by the man who called to complain.

Noise team, you called us about the car alarm.

Yes, yes.

Can you show us where it is?

Lead the way?

Timothy is a student.

He lives above the car park where a faulty car alarm has been

going off for hours, keeping him and his flatmates awake.

I, personally, live on this level.

It sounds like it's coming from...somewhere...

right underneath here.

OK, so the problem's going to be getting in.

Is there any information on the entrance?

Not that I saw.

Admittedly, I didn't really give it a thorough look over,

but nothing I saw.

I'd be happy to go and have a look again.

OK, I think we need to do that.

HIGH BEEPING

So, this is normally open?

In the day time?

I see people coming up and down.

With no access to the car park, this is a frustrating one for George.

We'll be back with him shortly, though, to see

if he can silence this beeping car alarm.

It cuts right through everything,

it goes right in your ear

which is, at this point, what makes it pretty annoying.

And things heat up, as he lays down the law to a street party.

If you put it on again, I'll come back and take it.

Across the UK, one of the biggest causes of nuisance noise

are noisy parties that go on until the early hours, keeping us awake.

It seems to be getting more noisier in general.

More time, like 24/7.

A friend of mine had a really noisy neighbour,

just a young lad who persistently had parties late at night.

She had three children of her own and she just couldn't stand it

any longer, so she ended up putting the house up for sale, and moving.

Booming basses and over-active amps disturb our sleep and drive us

to distraction.

They party all night long and...

I don't mind, but you sort of wake up and you think...

why don't they stop?

Like Noise Squads in most big town and cities,

the team in York are used to dealing with rowdy revellers.

And with 17 years' experience on the job,

Noise Enforcement Officer Helen Howlett

is well aware of the affect nuisance noise can have on people's lives.

The obvious thing that it's keeping people awake,

but it's stress, it leads to anxiety, fear,

and often noise is part of a bigger problem as well,

it might be part of anti-social behaviour

or there might be other issues involved.

It's Friday night and Helen is on shift with her colleague Fiona

and a complaint has come in.

Is it still happening?

Is it like karaoke, or...

A local resident claims that they're being kept awake by what

they think is a karaoke party in a neighbouring flat.

Right, we'll be with you in about ten minutes.

OK, bye, now.

Helen and Fiona head off to investigate and it seems that this

isn't the first time they've had to deal with this alleged noise-maker.

In this case, we've already served abatement notices

on tenants at the property that's allegedly causing the noise.

The notices refer to preventing nuisance from loud amplified music

so depending on what we find,

it may be that we're witnessing a breach of the abatement notice.

This is serious stuff.

An abatement Notice is a legal document

that is served on people making nuisance noise

that has been witnessed first-hand by Noise Enforcement Officers.

If it's breached,

the team can seize the possessions that are making the nuisance noise

and the noisemaker also risks being taken to court and fined.

When they arrive at the property, Helen and Fiona head inside.

The complainant is a bit camera shy, but after having a chat

and monitoring the noise, the team come back with an update.

We heard loud amplified music.

It was clearly at a level that would prevent sleep,

and it was preventing sleep.

The occupier was woken up by the noise and couldn't get back to sleep.

The level in the bedroom was sufficient to be a statutory nuisance,

and as we've served an abatement notice preventing further statutory nuisance,

we've actually witnessed a breach of the abatement notice this evening.

The complainant didn't want a fuss

and asked Helen and Fiona not to confront their neighbour tonight,

but having witnessed a breach of the Abatement Notice,

they will be taking action.

We may decide to do a seizure of the noise making equipment

that was used this evening,

to prevent any further breach of the abatement notice, that's an option.

Or we could process the case with a view to prosecution

without doing a seizure.

We'll make that decision,

we'll discuss it with our manager back in the office, on Monday,

and take the most appropriate course of action for the case.

Back in the office, the team write up their notes.

The decision about what to do next will be made in the coming days.

The following week Helen heads out from Noise Squad headquarters

with two colleagues.

The team have been dealing with this case for some time now and have

decided to confiscate the equipment that's making the nuisance noise.

It's a decision that hasn't been taken lightly

and it's now being carried out.

In this particular case, the individuals involved have had

a number of warnings, both verbal and letters.

They will have had a letter explaining the abatement notice

when the abatement notices were served,

and explaining the consequences of breaching the notice.

We've had a near breach, and we have sent reminder letters to them,

reminding them about the abatement notice requirement,

so they've certainly had a good number of warnings from us.

Whenever the team carry out a seizure, they always get police back-up

to make sure things don't get out of hand,

and before they go in, Helen gives them a briefing.

We've got a warrant to enter the property,

if need be by force, to take the equipment from them

that they were using at the weekend for the offence,

which we think is karaoke,

probably games machines, CDs, that kind of thing.

Helen's also called in a joiner in case no-one's home

and they have to gain access to the property.

We've just spoken to the police,

we've got the joiner on hand so we're now all ready to go.

We believe there's somebody in the flat anyway,

but we're going to go round, knock, explain what we're doing,

why we're doing it. Hopefully they'll let us in.

If not, we've got the joiner

and we're going to enter under warrant anyway.

With everyone up to speed, it's time to move in.

Helen knocks on the door.

The warrant gives the Noise Squad the power to seize anything

that could have been used in the karaoke party to make the nuisance noise.

My name's Helen Howlett,

I'm a City of York Council Environmental Protection Officer.

-We're here regarding breach of an abatement notice.

-You what?

An abatement notice that's been served.

We're here today to seize some equipment

because of an offence committed over the weekend.

Helen cautions the occupant of the flat and the team move in.

Even though the police are present seizing people's possessions

is always a tense job.

In this instance, there are no real problems

and around half an hour later the job is done.

It's difficult to say what a typical reaction is.

Some people are compliant and let you get on with it.

Some people want to argue with you against everything,

sometimes there's a happy medium.

It really depends.

Helen and the team head to the Noise Squad lock-up

to log the confiscated equipment and store it.

One, two, three, four, five...

five, it should be.

Five bags?

Five bags and a speaker.

Yeah.

The noisemakers will be invited in to Noise Squad HQ,

and given a chance to put their side of their story.

But Helen's happy that it's been a job well done.

I'm pleased that we have managed to get the equipment from them.

I hope that's given a clear message to them

that they're not to cause a nuisance and a breach of the abatement notice,

and hopefully this weekend,

and the evenings in between now and then,

the local residents will be able to have peace and quiet

rather than have to put up with the noise.

The occupant of this flat has been interviewed under caution.

The equipment remains in the council's possession

and to date no further complaints have been received

about nuisance noise from the flat.

In Westminster, noise enforcement officer George Christian is

trying to silence a faulty car alarm that's keeping local residents awake.

The problem for George is that the car is in a car park

and he can't get in.

I think the garage actually goes right up to,

and maybe underneath part of our houses

because it's on a lower level than the house itself,

and I guess that's just the way the whole complex is designed.

But the way they designed it was actually just a grate there.

It sounds as if the car's actually parked right near that grate as well,

so it's basically going right up through

and then it echoes around the mews where we work, so...

It was a different noise around, maybe,

until around 20 minutes ago and now it's doing this chirping thing,

but at the beginning it was actually more of a pinging thing.

My room mate commented that it sounded like we were on a submarine, or something.

So yeah, it kinda cuts right through everything,

goes right in your ear which is, at this point, what makes it pretty annoying.

Hello, it's George Christian,

from the Noise team at Westminster City Council.

There's a contact number on the wall.

George leaves a message asking to be called back, urgently.

I'm just hoping that they'll come back

so we can gain some kind of access

and actually get to the vehicle and deal with it.

So at the moment, that's all we can really do.

If we could get sight of the vehicle,

we could get a registration number

and run it by the police and see if we can get a keeper's details.

But we can't even see which car it is that's causing the problem.

So, frustrating.

It's not exactly the outcome George is after.

The car park is locked up for the night.

If it's too loud or out of the ordinary, noise can be a nuisance

at any time of the day or night but there are ways to deal with it.

Noise teams are part of councils' Environmental Health departments

and they can put you in touch with people who can mediate

if the problem concerns noisy neighbours.

If you don't think this would work or you've got other noise problems,

like faulty alarms, give your local council a call.

As he can't get into the car park, it looks as though

George will have to refer this case onto the daytime team.

It says Sundays and bank holidays, 10am to 10pm.

Will you able to sleep tonight with this going on?

Yeah, I mean, we'll live for a night.

I just didn't want it to get worse.

Right. How loud, actually, is it in the bedroom?

As long as I keep the windows closed which, you know,

is not too hard, it's fine.

You can hear it, but it's, you know.

Right.

So what we can do is we can follow it up first thing in the morning.

We open at ten, and we can get our day staff straight on to it.

Luckily for Timothy and other nearby residents, the car battery

ran down in the early hours of the morning and the alarm stopped,

allowing everyone to finally get some sleep.

It's a hot night in central London and there's no let up for George.

It's quite loud I take it?

We're not here to save lives,

but we're here to improve the quality of life.

His next job is to try and track down the source of some very loud

music that's keeping one local resident awake in the early hours.

We're going to visit a lady that's made a complaint about some loud music.

She doesn't know where it's coming from

but she says it's very loud and it's disturbing her.

So we're just going to give her a call,

go into her property and listen, see if we can trace it from there.

Got it.

I'm in. Thank you.

From the balcony, it's clear that someone is having a party.

Now George just needs to find out where it is.

It doesn't take him long to track down the source of the noise.

Well, what this looks like is just an impromptu set up

with somebody just putting some speakers in the street.

It's not confined to any premises

but they must be getting power from somewhere.

What I want to do is find out whose speakers they are,

and tell them that it needs to stop or be turned right down.

Here goes.

George has found the source of the nuisance noise

and we'll be with him shortly as he moves in to shut it down.

This might sound strange to you,

but I've got more power than the police in this respect.

In York the racket from a local pub

is stopping residents from getting 40 winks.

If people are prevented from sleeping,

if their activities are restricted because of the impact from someone else,

that comes under the terms of statutory noise nuisance.

And in Belfast, Noise Officer David

is monitoring the volume of a huge TV screen

in the heart of the city centre.

My point is the worst case scenario, in terms of disturbance,

that's what we're here to look at.

Belfast is the capital of Northern Ireland

and it's the biggest city with over half a million inhabitants.

In the past year, the noise team have received almost 7,000 complaints,

but it's not all barking dogs

and loud parties that they've had to deal with.

David from the Noise Team has an unusual day ahead of him.

Belfast has been selected as one of 21 Live Sites

run by local councils and the BBC.

These sites will have a permanent screen to promote

the 2012 Olympics, the BBC and local council initiatives.

This is the big screen over here, they're setting up at the moment.

I'm going to meet a representative from the BBC

who's going to be doing the sound checks with us.

Broadcasts are planned to run from seven in the morning

until 11 at night.

David's job today is to agree the acceptable volume.

It would be a bit tricky if the council started getting complaints

about their own sound system!

My point is the worst case scenario, in terms of disturbance,

that's what we're here to look at.

Well, we'll turn it on now and you can see what it looks like.

Larger music and sporting events will be screened at a much louder level

than news and information broadcasts -

David does readings for both.

First, a news broadcast.

The ambiance of background noise varies greatly with the location

and it's measured in decibels.

A busy street is around 70 decibels.

A quiet room at night is 20 decibels.

And a pneumatic drill is 120 decibels.

The square is surrounded by offices,

what David is most concerned about today is the acceptable

level of noise in an office when the screen is in use.

My colleague here is on the phone to one of the officers

in the office next to the screen.

They're giving thumbs up that the level at the moment isn't too loud,

so they can't really hear it at all, which is good.

We're going to go and put on some music now so we can have

a listen to a different type of noise from the screen.

There will be different types of events,

so we want to get a good feel for what's the worst case scenario

in relation to whether it's speech or drama or music.

The screen's been set at a level that's being operated day in day out normal level.

There will be special events where the screen will be much louder.

Generally, the officer in the City Hall here is saying

that level's acceptable at the minute, but any louder would be too loud,

so I think probably in terms of daytime events

that's probably going to be as loud as we'll be able to have it.

However, to make sure we know what the impact would be

if we were having evening events, we're going to go in now

and maybe take a quick sound level measurement, and put the screen on at the top levels.

Belfast City Hall is the perfect place to carry out the test.

It's the closest big building to the location of the screen

and has lots of offices.

This one belongs to a big cheese, the Town Solicitor

and Assistant Chief Executive!

Let's hope David minds his Ps and Qs.

We'll put on the screen at its loudest setting,

so we know what the noise level's like inside for special events.

Hello, Kevin? It's David here.

Do you want to put the event level on, and we can do a quick check?

David gets the screen played at full volume.

The exec listens in on the test. No pressure then, David!

-It's not actually today, is it?

-No.

It'll be very hard to have a serious meeting about some boring stuff

-while we're bopping around to Status Quo!

-That's right.

FAINT MUSIC PLAYS

In terms of sound level measurement, it's 52 decibels,

which as a guideline level for an executive office is around 35 as a good level.

So you couldn't really do too much work with that going on all day probably, so...

With the level for special events too loud for office hours,

David updates the technician.

-We're running at the event level and that...

-It was very, very clear.

And at this level, normal level?

At the normal level you can just about hear it, you know.

So it's acceptable?

Acceptable, uh-huh.

The normal level is fine.

Just loud enough for an audience to hear broadcasts

above the sounds of the city, but without disturbing the neighbours.

This is the level they've agreed it can be at during the day,

which we've confirmed is acceptable in the offices nearby.

There will be special events in the evening and things,

but those will have special agreements in place and special planning involved.

If we get complaints in the future we'll have to review it,

but we'll take a quick walk along the far side of the square

just to make sure the noise at its current level isn't an issue.

But I don't think it will be.

Before David can take these final readings he's going to have to do a spot of negotiating.

I think I'll have to ask this guy to stop playing, unfortunately, and see if we can hear the screen,

which means I'll have to probably pay him.

Can I ask you just to stop for a wee moment

-so we can hear the screen, is that OK?

-No play?

Yeah, no play. Just two minutes, OK?

Give me, give me. Yes, please.

Give, please. Hello?

CONTINUES PLAYING

No. Can I ask you to stop, I just want to hear this big TV screen.

David then checks in the street.

And inside a nearby business.

I'm just going to go into the shop to see if I can hear it inside.

I don't think I will be able to, it's very low.

No, you can't hear it at all inside, so that's good.

It seems OK at that level so I'll ring the engineers

and tell them they can finish the test now.

David's happy that the levels are set well and the noise team

shouldn't get any complaints to the council, about the council.

All done.

We're a nation that likes to have fun, to go out and have a good time.

But when the pubs and clubs we visit are packed to the rafters,

noise levels can sometimes get out of hand.

It's the beat of the bass that you hear constantly.

You can hear shouting in the middle of the night at three to four o'clock.

It's very disturbing.

Last year nuisance noise from licensed premises

was the second highest complaint the city of York's Noise Squad

had to deal with but when they're called in to action,

the team leave nuisance noisemakers in no doubt that they have to quieten down.

If you're going to have loud music here, you'll have to have the doors closed

or it could mean losing the licence.

Helen Howlett has worked as a Noise Officer for 17 years

and for the past six years she's been part of the team here in York.

Today she's following up a complaint about a pub's loud music

and chattering customers.

The night time noise patrol received a complaint at the weekend

about loud music late night.

By the time they got the call, they managed to get out there by 11:15pm

and the music had finished.

But they were concerned about the level of noise from customers in the beer garden.

Before Helen heads to the pub to have a word with the landlord,

she wants to get a better look at how close the watering hole is to neighbours' homes.

The beer garden extends at least this far.

Obviously, we've got a block of residential behind here.

I'm just trying to get a feel for the area

so when I go inside I can picture how it relates to the residents at the back of the premises.

Having got the lie of the land,

Helen meets up with Nigel from the licensing department.

I enforce all conditions on alcohol licences.

These premises have got some noise conditions on the licence

which is why I'm here today, to make sure they are being adhered to.

All the pubs in York get their licences from the council

and these tell them what is and isn't allowed.

The complaint about this pub was about loud live music

and that could be a bit of a problem.

They've only got recorded music, late night refreshment.

Ah. I think there might have been a live band on, on Saturday night.

Well, if there was, they can't have it.

He has lots of live music here, doesn't he?

Hi, Helen Howlett from the council.

The team move inside and Helen explains to the landlord why they've come to visit.

The reason we're here is that we had a night time noise patrol complaint on Saturday night.

We had two calls come in from one premises being affected.

Loud music could be heard and noise from the beer garden.

They arrived on site at 11:15pm and within the person's bedroom

the noise was sufficient, with the window open,

for those people to be affected if they were trying to sleep.

So that's something that could be a statutory nuisance.

Different councils handle nuisance noise complaints in slightly different ways.

In York, if the team witness loud noise coming from licensed premises

they have the power to serve an Abatement Notice.

This gives the business a legal obligation to quieten down.

If it's ignored and the problem persists,

they could be taken to the magistrate's court and fined.

In extreme cases, they could also lose their licence.

Nuisance noise isn't this landlord's only problem though.

The pub's been hosting live music but their licence doesn't allow this.

Time for Nigel to have a word.

What entertainment did you have on at the weekend?

We had five, five bands on Saturday night.

Cos that might be a problem, John.

Because you're not licensed for live music.

This news has clearly come as a bit of a shock to the landlord.

You haven't got live music as part of the entertainment.

Did you not know?

Live music and recorded music are separate.

Live music is also a licensed activity.

If you want to have live music you're going to have to put a variation in...

and get it put on your licence.

-I'll do that straight away.

-You obviously weren't aware.

-No.

-You must have read your licence when you came in.

-Yes.

So it's a warning on this occasion.

So no more live music, OK?

Nigel's given this chap the benefit of the doubt this time,

but Helen needs to make sure the noise levels are dealt with. Time to head outside.

This was the door that was seen opening and closing

and letting the music out.

So when this door's open with people coming and going into the beer garden,

the music coming out can be heard in a residential property nearby.

We take the view that night time starts at 11pm.

So 11pm onwards it's reasonable for people to be using their bedrooms

and it's reasonable for the noise level to be quiet enough

for people to sleep.

So the assessment at 11:15pm was the noise from here was too loud at that time.

What might be an option is to manage the use of this garden after 11pm.

People's bedrooms will be affected...

The landlord agrees to try and reduce late night noise

by keeping doors closed and numbers in the beer garden to a minimum.

But Helen's not finished with him.

A common sense thing to notice

is that speaker's pointing towards the back through the door here,

so I don't know how you...

In the scheme of things, they are turned down by a good 25%.

If I turn the volume up, they all go up in the same level,

but these are set already lower than the rest.

The landlord claims that the noise levels of the speakers

have already been lowered from what they would normally be.

I'm not sure that's the response Helen was hoping for though.

Bear in mind officers witnessed music in someone else's property

when that door was open.

So that's the potential area.

I can get the engineer to come in or I can do it manually there.

But we can also make sure it's a step down again.

I don't mind doing that, that's fine.

The landlord agrees to turn the speakers down further. Wise man.

Before they leave, Nigel reminds him about the conditions on his licence.

But in the meantime, no live music.

If it is seen you have live music, you will be liable for prosecution.

Right, I don't think they could have been any clearer than that.

Doors closed, speakers down and no live music until the licence is sorted.

It's reasonable to meet half way before you're told

you've got to go beyond half way.

It benefits us, it shows we're willing to the residents,

and I think just kind of get along better.

I think it went well, he was very responsive to what we had to say.

We didn't have sufficient evidence to be taking any formal action

with him at this stage but I think he appreciated

the information and the advice, so that he can be one step ahead

and not get to the stage where we're having to take legal action.

So, having delivered a tough message and gotten assurances

that it had been taken on board, that's the end of the story, right?

Wrong!

One week later Helen is on the nightshift with her colleague Fiona,

and they've been called back to the pub by a local resident who can't get 40 winks.

I went to speak to the premises with the licensing enforcement officer

just over a week ago, and he did seem very amenable.

So I am surprised if...

Well, I am quite surprised if he is doing what's been alleged.

It's unfortunate we're getting the same sort of complaints

that I had hoped we'd dealt with informally.

It's the early hours of Sunday morning

and when Helen and Fiona arrive at the pub,

it's easy to hear there's a bit of a noise problem in the beer garden.

I'm just going inside to speak to the manager,

to find out what's going on.

There seems quite a lot of people in the back

but I can't see how far down the beer garden they are.

So I just need to go in and do a bit more investigating.

After popping inside it turns out that although things aren't perfect,

the landlord is trying to do something about the noise levels coming from the pub.

What we found was that the doors were shut,

he'd actually roped off most of the beer garden

so there were only a few people out there, smoking and drinking.

Whenever the door to the beer garden had been opened

there was a lot of music coming out of the pub and the doors weren't closing properly.

So we had a good discussion with the licensee

to make some suggestions on perhaps putting some double doors

and a lobby to the beer garden to prevent this escape of loud music

that is keeping some of the residents awake.

Until the landlord sorts out his licence there'll be no more live music in this pub

and to date there have been no more complaints

and no further action has been necessary.

In Westminster George Christian is working a busy nightshift.

He's been called to deal with a loud party taking place

on the streets of Soho, in central London,

that's keeping a local resident awake in the early hours.

It's time to move in and quieten things down.

-Tell me whose speakers these are. I need to speak to them.

-Pardon?

Tell whose speaker it is.

The problem is, we've had a complaint about the speaker.

-Who owns it?

-This doesn't belong to one particular person.

But you see, if I say to you I'm going to take it away, right,

I'm not going to take it away, but I can, right?

Whose speaker is it? Is it...

-Do you have an interest in this speaker?

-Yeah.

What's happening here, is it a special occasion, celebration?

What's happening?

Just like summer time, we play some music in the street.

I'm not joking when I say to you I've three sets of police cars,

walking police, and they've all said no problem.

Well, this might sound strange to you,

but I've actually got more power than the police in this respect.

Yeah, no, no, I'm not suggesting you don't.

If you put it on again, I'll come back and take it.

-My advice is don't put it on.

-All right.

No problem.

George has left these revellers in no doubt about what will happen

if they turn the music back up.

What we had there was a complete impromptu celebration in the street.

You've got some people operating one big loudspeaker.

No reason, just because it's a warm night. It happens in Westminster.

What I've said to him is look, if you do it again I'll come back,

we'll take further action, we'll seize the speaker.

If I don't another complaint, fine, he can keep his speaker.

If we do get more, we'll be back. So that's the deal.

The noise from this party has been dealt with

but there's no let up for George, his busy night continues.

It is very hot, hot weather does bring people out to the street.

If we can still hear it...

He and his colleague Kevin are now on their way to deal with

a party neighbours say has spilled out onto the street

and is keeping them awake.

Straight ahead is where the party is.

There's a group outside which is a telltale sign.

FAINT MUSIC PLAYING

Hello, there.

Could we speak to whoever's holding the party?

-Hello, madam.

-Oh, hello.

George explains that even for a 40th birthday party

the music is too loud and too late.

What level is right for this time of the morning?

It's not a big problem, but we need to make sure you're not disturbing anybody.

Your party can carry on but I'm going to make sure nobody's kept awake.

-I'm 40 today.

-You're 40? Looking good.

-Congratulations!

We're not, we're not, we're not party poopers

but obviously we need to make sure people can sleep.

This lady is friendly and cooperative

and happy to quieten things down.

-I just want a nice easy life.

-That's what I say.

We're not coming down heavy but letting you know there's a complaint

so you can do something about it.

-All right? Take care.

-Take care now, bye, bye.

It's another result for George.

As dawn breaks and his shift finishes,

he deals with the paper work and reflects on a busy night.

One of the biggest problems is when you come back in here

and sit down is to try to stay awake.

If you can stay awake, you can get a lot done.

It's a quiet end to the shift.

It's been quite a busy night.

Unfortunately we did get a little bit behind on some of the jobs,

but that does happen when it's busy.

It's been warm and it's a bank holiday weekend,

so a combination of those things leads to quite a bit of hard work.

It might have been busy but it was also successful.

There were no further complaints about the cases George dealt with

and no further action was necessary.

It's been a busy shift for the Noise Squad.

Just two minutes, OK?

They've dealt with everything from an impromptu street party.

If you put it on again, I'll come back and take it.

A pub keeping the neighbours up...

The noise was sufficient with the window open

for those people to be affected if they were trying to sleep.

..to checking the levels of a huge TV screen.

You can just about hear it in the distance. It's acceptable, aye.

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.

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