Episode 8 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.

When you wake me up in the middle of the night, at 3 o'clock,

that's when I get in your face.

I just want them to have some consideration for other people,

and our other neighbours, and just... So we can sleep.

Persistent parties...

aggravating alarms...

and banging builders.

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

and driving us to despair.

Well, it's very annoying, to be honest. Too loud.

Too loud.

It's just a nightmare.

But the fightback is on.

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

Across the country, dedicated enforcement teams

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

Noise can be a statutory nuisance any time of day.

-You must clear off now.

-Yeah, that's why I'm clearing.

-OK.

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

Go and turn the music down, then come back and talk to me.

It's time to meet the no-nonsense Noise Squad.

Raising the roof and driving people round the bend today on Noise Squad.

A disco in someone's back garden has to be seen to be believed...

LOUD MUSIC AND CHATTERING

..a faulty alarm is annoying an entire street...

Obviously, being terraced houses all round here,

I can hear it through the wall too,

so it's been very irritating for the afternoon.

And officers don't know what they'll be faced with

when they're called to deal with a noisy neighbour.

We don't know anything about this guy,

but the complainant's saying that the police

would be in regular attendance at this property, so we just have to see

how it goes when he comes out, if he comes to the door.

York, the county town of Yorkshire, is home to 200,000 people.

Like their colleagues in big towns and cities across the UK,

the council's Noise Squad

are used to dealing with all kinds of complaints.

From loud music...

..to barking dogs...

..and annoying alarms.

There are ten people on the team plus one trainee officer,

Siobhan Metcalfe.

Tonight is my first evening with the noise patrol

and, to be honest, I'm quite looking forward to it

because I think it'll be quite a fast-paced environment.

Siobhan is gaining experience with the council's Noise Squad

after graduating with a degree in Environmental Health

and she's about to head out on her first ever night shift.

A job's come through and it's the other side of the city

so I think we're off to have a look and see what's what.

Tonight, Siobhan's on shift with Ian,

who's been with the team for five years.

We've had a complaint about loud music from a student house.

They were written to and warned...

..probably just over a week ago about loud music,

different complainant, so we're just going to go out, visit the...

visit the complainant, and see what we can hear.

In his five years in York, Ian's seen it all, but for Siobhan,

this is the first time she's been on the front line

dealing with night-time noise complaints.

Just a case of experiencing different situations

and be able to make a judgement as to whether I think

it's a nuisance or not and, kind of,

compare my views with experienced officers.

So it's a good opportunity, and I'm looking forward to it, really.

When they arrive, the team head straight inside

the complainant's house but it seems as though

the music's been turned off.

How long ago was it that it actually stopped?

About ten minutes ago, or so?

-Yeah, something like that.

-It weren't long ago, was it?

And then they kept turning it down then turning it up,

turning it down, turning it up.

Is there a usual pattern?

They'll sometimes turn it off and then go out, or else...

The other night they kept turning it off and turning it back on.

When it was on earlier on, what could you hear?

Could you hear, like, just the bass beat,

or could you identify which tracks they were?

It's just a bass song. There is no words, is there?

It's just a big bass, and it's all the time.

OK. Give us a call if it does start again later on.

It would be useful if we could go out

and find the names of the people in there

when it's happening, so just give us a call.

-OK.

-All right.

In order to take action, noise officers have to witness

nuisance noise first-hand, but with nothing to hear here,

Siobhan and Ian jump back in the car and head off.

Because there was no music being played,

we're on our way back to the office.

I've called the office to see if there's any other complaints

that's come in so we can go straight to them as opposed to going back,

but there's nothing as yet so we're just heading back now

and then we're sure we'll get to go back out later on tonight.

No sooner do the team arrive back at the office

than the night shift starts to get a lot busier.

We've just received three calls, so what we're doing now

is just working out the best way to get to each one

within the quickest time so we can assess the noise

at each property as it's going on.

So, we'll do that, and then we'll head out.

Having drawn up a plan of action, Ian and Siobhan

head off to the first complaint.

We're just off to a complaint at the moment.

She said there's loud music and voices from students

that have been there most of the week,

and she's said it happens nearly all week,

so hopefully we can get out and have a listen

and see if there's a problem or not.

When they arrive at the complainant's home, the first job

is to check to see if they can hear any nuisance noise.

RAISED VOICES TALKING

How long's it been going on for?

All evening, and they do it all day

-and they do it every single day as well.

-Right.

It's not quite as bad as this, but it's enough to keep you up, so...

-Can't sleep through this, really.

-Yeah?

-Has there been any music tonight, as well?

-Yeah, there has.

There's music throughout the day as well.

It's a nice, sort of, low, humming noise to my life.

-It doesn't sound all that loud, a few raised voices.

-Yeah.

It might be worth us trying to get some names off them.

We can give them a bit of a warning to turn things down.

Yeah, I know it's not, like...

I just don't want it to be every single night.

As it's the first complaint, what we normally tend to do

is send a warning letter, and if we get problems afterwards...

-OK.

-..we've got a stronger footing

-and we can take further action.

-Thank you very much.

The lady says that the neighbours are students

and only moved in a week ago.

You know, you hear they're students,

I'm a student, it's fine, people have a life,

but if I try and talk to them I feel like they won't take me seriously.

I want them to have a formal warning

before it becomes something so regular

that I do get really upset about it.

I just really worry it's going to turn into

what my Mum would call a "party house".

Mainly, yeah. I don't want to live next door to the party house.

Having listened to the noise, Ian and Siobhan have decided

it's loud enough for them

to give the tenants next door a warning letter.

Different councils deal with nuisance noise

in slightly different ways.

Here in York, if the team witness something they think is a problem,

they can issue a warning.

If that doesn't work, the next step is to serve a noise abatement notice.

That gives the noise-maker a legal obligation to quieten down.

If the noise-maker ignores that, they can be taken to court,

fined and also have any equipment

responsible for making the nuisance noise seized.

Right, time to get some names.

Let me explain to you why. We've had a complaint about noise from a party that's going on,

and I've had a listen and can hear lots of rowdy voices

so, if it continues like that, later on, I could be forced into serving a noise abatement notice

if I feel that the noise is a nuisance.

So, by you giving me your names what I want to do at the moment

is send an informal warning letter to you at the start of next week.

But if you don't want to co-operate and give names, then,

obviously, we could mention this to your landlord.

Well, that's all very clear.

Give Ian the names he's looking for, keep the noise down in future,

problem solved.

-Can I just talk to my other housemates before I do anything?

-By all means.

Or possibly not.

At the moment, we're just waiting for them to come back,

and they're discussing whether they should give us their names.

At the moment we just want to give them a warning letter,

just an informal one, just to let them know

that we've received a complaint and what we can do in future.

Really, we just don't want to hear the noise again.

So she's just discussing it with her housemates

as to whether she should give the names out.

We do have a fairly good working relationship with the university,

so if we find students that do cause a problem,

we can pass that information on

and they tend to have their own ways of dealing with them as well.

So they give them their own warning.

If these students don't give Siobhan and Ian the names they're after,

their university could also get involved.

So, a quick chat and common sense will prevail. Right?

Where does the university come into it?

Sadly not. We'll be back with the team later

as these students continue to waste time

that could be used helping other people.

-I know that noise pollution starts after eleven o'clock.

-That's not correct.

-That's not correct?

-Noise can be a statutory nuisance any time of day.

But one way or another, Ian and Siobhan are going to get

the names they need to issue a warning letter.

If you don't co-operate, we'll contact the university at the start of next week,

say we've had a noise complaint about this property

and ask them for the details.

We've all heard them...

ALARMS BEEP AND WAIL

..and when they go off, the noise drives us mad.

The general, high-pitched wails,

you get them from houses, car alarms...

I want to actually put an axe through the bonnet.

-ALARM SHRIEKS

-That's exactly how I feel.

I'm no makin' the noise, but it was very annoying.

Every year, the Westminster noise team get hundreds of calls

about faulty alarms that just won't stop sounding off.

It cuts right through everything and goes right in your ear,

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

Today, noise enforcement officer Mike Peters

is on a Saturday day shift and is heading off

to deal with a burglar alarm that's disrupting the peace

of an entire street.

We're going to deal with a burglar alarm...

in a residential property.

Don't know who's inside or outside at the moment.

It's been going for about an hour and a half, said the complainant.

We've had two complaints about the same thing.

Dealing with noisy burglar alarms is a regular occurrence

for Mike and his colleagues on the Council's Noise Squad.

With so many properties in Westminster,

they're almost a daily occurrence, I would say.

Exactly what set off this alarm is unclear,

but it's Mike's job to silence it.

The sounder should cut off after 20 minutes, by law.

But invariably, things go wrong and they keep misfiring.

So that's when we get called in.

He arrives just after six in the evening

and it's not difficult to find the source of the nuisance noise.

SHRILL CHIRPING What a weird noise.

Wow.

That's great, what a great noise that is.

The first job is to try and track down the homeowner

responsible for this perpetual peep.

No, there's no-one there, so we'll try upstairs.

Despite his best efforts, Mike isn't having much luck

and across the road, neighbours who've been driven up the wall have spotted his arrival.

NEIGHBOUR CALLS OUT Yeah, we'll try and deal with it for you.

All right.

Right, well, there's no-one in the whole block,

so we'll serve a bit of paper

and then I'll ring up the police and see what they've got to say.

Different councils deal with nuisance noise slightly differently.

Here in Westminster, Mike can serve the owner of this faulty alarm with a noise abatement notice

which means they are legally required to shut off this racket.

If they don't, he can call a locksmith to disable it

and the homeowner will have to pay the costs.

He's given the owners of this property

one hour to turn the alarm off.

I'll stick it in the letter box.

You can't say which particular flat it is,

it might be for the whole block,

so we'll just leave it in the hallway there.

Now, it might seem a bit strange for Mike to be serving a notice

when he doesn't know who is responsible for it,

but if he's going to silence the alarm and then charge the homeowner,

he has to do things by the book.

He's served the whole block of flats with a notice.

While the hour plays out, Mike sets to work

trying to find out who's responsible for the alarm

I'll now ring the police.

In cases like this, Mike and his colleagues

always check the Council's key-holder database to find an owner.

Having drawn a blank, it's time to see if the police have any details.

Right.

Yeah, it's Mike Peters here,

I'm one of the environmental health officers from Westminster Council.

It's an alarm, and we want you to tell us

if you've got any key-holder details for this particular property.

The police can't help Mike

but they do want to make sure there are no visible signs of a break-in.

It doesn't look like it, no.

It looks all pretty secure to me.

All right, thank you very much. Bye.

Mike's next port of call is the alarm company.

Mike Peters is my name,

I'm one of the environmental health officers from Westminster Council.

It's to do with an alarm that has your name on the box.

I haven't got a contract with you, I just want some information, please,

as to if you have any key-holder details or any client registered.

All right, so that means you haven't got a contract with it, yes?

All right, many thanks. That's great. Bye.

This address isn't ringing any bells with the alarm company.

If he can't track them down soon,

Mike's going to have to silence the alarm

and leave the owner with the bill.

As the alarm rings on and on,

local residents are well and truly fed up.

It has been very irritating for the afternoon.

We'll be with Mike soon to find out if he can find the owners

or if he'll need to take matters into his own hands

and silence the alarm himself.

We've got to wait for an hour to see if anybody does turn up.

And then we can get our engineer down and turn it off.

In York, trainee noise enforcement officer Siobhan Metcalfe

is working her first night shift with her colleague, Ian Gray.

They're trying to get the names they need

to issue an informal warning to the residents of a student house.

Sounds like an easy enough job, but thanks to a bunch of students

who think they know best, it's not turning out that way.

-So what's the situation?

-OK. We've received a complaint, OK?

And at the minute, we're just letting you know

that we've received a complaint and just turn it down a little bit.

We do need the names of all the tenants that live in the property

so we can send you a letter out. It's a standard letter

that comes with every complaint that's received.

So we're letting you know that we've received a complaint

and we're monitoring over a certain period of time

to see if there's any further issues that arise. OK?

So, at the minute we're seeing if we can get your details.

Siobhan's been very clear about what's happening

and why she needs to know who lives here.

Why do you need to send a letter to the guests that don't live here?

We don't, we need the tenants' names.

-Tenants' names?

-Yeah, that's what I'm asking for.

Rather than telling her what she needs to know, though,

this not-so-bright spark decides to try and teach

Ian and Siobhan the rules about nuisance noise.

-If the nature of the complaint was noise, right?

-Yep.

So their complaint was taken at...

You were here at just gone 11,

so I take it the complaint was made just before 11?

About half an hour ago, something like that.

So it was before 11 o'clock, then? Before 11pm, OK?

So, I know the noise level, noise pollution,

starts after 11 o'clock.

-That's not correct.

-That's not correct?

Noise can be a statutory nuisance any time of day

so it's a myth that it's only after 11 o'clock.

11 o'clock is classed as being...

Once you get after 11 it's the official night-time hours, as such,

but noise can be a nuisance any time of day.

Any time? I'm failing to see

how this noise could be any nuisance to anyone.

So that's a D for knowing the rules about nuisance noise.

More homework and less partying required, I think, young man.

All we're trying to do at the moment is get the names of the people

in the house so we can write a letter to them.

If you don't want to co-operate, we'll contact the university

at the start of next week, say we've had a noise complaint

about this property and ask them for details themselves.

There's been enough messing about,

there are other calls waiting for Ian and Siobhan to deal with.

Either these students tell them who lives here

or they'll find out from the university.

I'll go and have a word, then, and see what...

We've got other visits we have to go to, so...

Really? While everyone's having fun on a Saturday night?

-OK, I tell you what...

-We'll be with you in a second, I'm just going to talk to the tenants.

After a quick chat, the students finally realise

they don't know best.

They give Ian and Siobhan the names they need

to send out a warning letter, but it's been a tricky case for Siobhan.

I was quite pleased Ian was there to give us a bit of backup

and give us a bit of extra encouragement,

and there's questions I might not have been able to answer, as well, on the night.

But overall it's just another experience of how to deal with different people differently.

If you're being bothered by anti-social nuisance noise,

you don't have to put up with it.

If a friendly word doesn't do the trick,

your local council are on hand to help

so pick up the phone and give them a call.

Hello, what is it in relation to, music or voices or...?

So far, Siobhan hasn't had to deal with anything that's bad enough

for a noise abatement notice to be served.

As she and Ian arrive at their next complaint, though, all that's about to change.

MUSIC AND RAISED VOICES I can hear their music.

It's midnight, and loud music from a street party

can clearly be heard blaring out.

Now that's bad enough, but have a look and listen

at this party from inside someone's home.

LOUD MUSIC AND CHATTERING

As you can guess, this is the kind of volume

-which is enough to be a nuisance.

-Yeah.

This kind of noise is a kind of level

I was expecting to hear this evening.

It gives me a good indication as to, kind of, think,

"Yeah, I'm on the same level as what the other officers are thinking."

So my judgement's around the same level as what they have,

so when I go and do this for myself,

I know I'll be making the correct decision, really.

I suppose that's what it's all about.

Learning and gauging it right.

It's good. It's good experience so far.

It's difficult to know how anyone could ever think

this was acceptable at any time of day,

never mind when people are trying to get to sleep.

At the moment, there's very loud dance music being played.

As you look out into the back garden you can see flashing lights,

there's maybe a dozen people dancing, all having their own disco

in the back garden on the lawn,

having a good old time, obviously very drunk.

So it could be interesting to see

what kind of reception we get in a few minutes.

SHE LAUGHS

If we can get ourselves heard by knocking on the door,

it might be difficult, but we'll try and speak to somebody,

tell them they'll have to switch the music off, bring the party inside,

it's obviously too late for that now.

Hopefully they'll turn it down there and then.

If they don't, we'll go and we'll call you back,

or you can call us back in ten minutes if it's continuing.

We can then draft up an abatement notice in the office,

then come back and serve the notice on them if need be.

This house party is obviously playing music far too loud

and far too late.

We'll be with Siobhan and Ian shortly,

as they go to confront the noise-makers.

Just give me two minutes.

No, cos I don't make issues.

I pay me rent, I pay me council tax,

I have a disco for me son, who's 17.

-That is all I've done.

-OK.

In Westminster, Mike Peters is cracking down on builders

carrying out noisy work on a bank holiday.

From Westminster Council.

It's about the noise you're making on a bank holiday.

You'll have to stop.

And in Belfast, one noisy neighbour has his music on so loud

that the team struggle to make themselves heard.

KNOCKING ON DOOR

KNOCKING ON DOOR

Every night, noisy neighbours playing loud music

are keeping us awake until the early hours.

They party all night long, and I don't mind,

but you sort of wake up and think, "Why don't they stop?"

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.

People who just won't pipe down and let us get a good night's sleep

leave us stressed, angry and exhausted.

You know, when I go to work I always feel stressed,

and I always feel angry at work.

In Belfast, the council's Noise Squad are used to dealing

with rowdy revellers, and are on hand to crack down

on those playing music too loud and too late.

If we come back tonight, you'll get a £100 fine,

so keep it down even after we go away.

-You're going to have to just knock the tunes on the head, all right?

-It's not that bad.

It's annoying three different apartments. That's far too loud.

You'll need to turn it down

or you'll end up getting fined later on.

It's Friday night,

one of the busiest times of the week for the team,

and noise enforcement officers Steve and Tim

are on their way to deal with a complaint

about an alleged noisy party.

The complaint's been passed through to us by the other team

so all we have is the address and that it's a noisy party, so...

A lot of the time, it's only sketchy details we have till we get out.

What one person's idea of a noisy party is

can be very different from another person's.

Officers have to take an even-handed approach

to all the complaints they get.

Before they take any action,

they have to witness nuisance noise first-hand.

They can't act on hearsay.

As Tim and Steve approach the house,

the music can be clearly heard in the street.

THUMPING BASS

This is no simple house party.

The music is blaring out into the night and is definitely a nuisance.

Yeah, it's far too loud for, as you can see, the wee terraced houses.

One, two... You can hear it four houses away from out the front,

so it's too loud.

It's not just, we've got a bit of music on, it's inconsiderable,

the level of noise, so us, here,

will leave them with this threat of a £100 fine.

We don't know anything about this guy,

but the complainant's saying that the police

would be in regular attendance at this property,

so we'll see how it goes when he comes out, if he comes to the door.

The lads are going to serve a warning notice.

Here in Belfast, once the notice is served, if the noise continues,

the noise-maker could be hit with a £100 fine.

Need to keep your eye on the top window, Steven.

With allegations that the police are regularly called to this house,

Tim and Steve can't be sure

who or what they'll be dealing with when someone answers the door.

I heard some movement.

It's a tense time for the lads.

KNOCKING ON DOOR

Finally, they get someone's attention.

All right, mate? I'm from the council's noise service.

Music's a wee bit too loud for us tonight.

Need you to keep it down, all right?

This is a written warning saying we've been here,

as long as you keep it down, you're fine,

but if we have to come back, you get a £100 fine.

You don't have to turn it off, but you need to keep it turned down, all right?

Gent. Good night.

Tim's been very clear what needs to happen. However...

It's back on just as loud, Steven. It's back on just as loud.

You get ten minutes grace to sort out the noise,

so we'll wait and see whether...

Sometimes people will blare out for the ten minutes,

just as a sign of defiance, and then turn it down.

So if we wait the ten minutes,

then see if the complainant phones back to say the noise is still on.

Once someone has been served with a warning notice in Belfast,

they have ten minutes to quieten down or face a potential £100 fine.

A short while later, the lads drive by and all is quiet.

The warning notice has done the trick.

The noise has stopped and Tim and Steve

received no further complaints about this property

and no further action was needed.

In Westminster, Mike Peters is on a mission

to silence a faulty alarm that's annoying an entire street.

SHRILL CHIRPING

He's knocked on doors, called the police

and the alarm company in an effort to find the owners, with no success.

He's now phoned a locksmith to try and silence this racket.

Hello, Jason, can you hear me?

Good. Mike from Westminster, I have an alarm for you to deactivate.

You'll just need a single ladder, that's all. It's about eight foot.

With Jason, the locksmith, on his way, the clock is ticking.

If this alarm isn't silenced soon, Jason will set to work

and the owner will have to foot the bill.

Whoever is the occupier whose alarm it is, they will have to repair it.

All we have to do is abate the nuisance.

If you have a burglar alarm, check to see if your local council

has a key-holder database.

If they do, leave a key with a trusted neighbour when you go away.

Then you can be sure not to return to a bill

from your local Noise Squad if it goes off and can't be silenced.

With the alarm still sounding, the guy that called in to complain

pops out to explain what's been going on.

I heard this incessant alarm sound, so I thought it was worth a try.

Seeing as how it's a bank holiday I wasn't expecting much,

so I was impressed to find there was someone on the end of the number I got given

and was able to come and, hopefully, deal with the situation.

This noise would drive anyone bonkers

and he and the rest of the neighbours are hoping

the team can silence the alarm.

Well, being terraced houses all around here,

I can hear it coming through the wall as well,

so it has been very irritating for the afternoon.

With the hour up since the notice was served,

Jason the locksmith sets to work.

DRILL WHIRS

ALARM STOPS

Ah, finally, the sound of silence.

Well done. Another case solved.

The repetitive ringing has stopped and I think it's fair to say

the neighbours are delighted.

-Well done!

-Thank you.

-JUBILANT BANGING

-Thank you!

That's nice.

Another satisfied customer.

The owner of the alarm was charged around £400

for Mike and Jason's time

and they'll also have to fork out for a new alarm.

All of this could have been avoided

if the key-holder could have been contacted.

We've had people hanging out the windows clapping, applauding,

in a tower block like this before, in certain places.

So it's been good. That's when you get a bit of job satisfaction,

when people are actually demonstrably grateful to you.

It's a good job well done.

The alarm is off, the neighbours are happy. Case closed.

In York, trainee noise enforcement officer Siobhan Metcalfe

is working her first nightshift with senior colleague Ian Gray.

They've been called to deal with a complaint about a house party

that's playing music far too loud and far too late.

BLARING MUSIC AND CHATTERING

It's time to have a word and quieten things down.

Ian Gray, of the council noise patrol.

-DRUNKENLY:

-Oh, sorry, have we had an issue?

-It is a bit loud. What was your sur...

-So, all night? All night.

Ian explains who he is,

but the party holder doesn't think she's done anything wrong.

-Just give me two minutes...

-No.

Cos I don't make issues. I pay me rent, I pay me council tax.

I have a disco for me son, who's 17. That is all I've done.

-OK, I'm not having any...

-So what's your issue?

This lady isn't happy

and with emotions running high,

Ian takes charge of a potentially tricky situation.

Enough people have got an issue to find it's causing them a nuisance

and they're not able to sleep.

So, what I'm saying is, if you can switch the music off

and bring the party inside. I'm not looking at stopping anyone's party

but if you can bring the party inside

and stop the music off, that's all I'm asking.

But if the music continues at that level,

then I have to serve a noise abatement notice.

Ian's asked what level of music would be acceptable.

At the risk of sounding like a broken record,

he tells these revellers that it has to be turned down and taken inside.

Once it gets to this kind of time of night,

-the music outside is always going to be...

-A bit of a problem, yeah.

If you bring the music inside and keep it quiet, then fine.

It's going to have to be turned down a heck of a lot,

because it's far, far too loud at the minute.

If you can sort that out for me so we don't have to come back again, that'd be great.

Ian's been very calm and very clear about what needs to happen.

His years of experience on the job

have enabled him to deal with this difficult situation

where emotions were running high.

They've agreed to switch the music off

and finish the disco, otherwise we'll come back with an abatement notice.

So we'll see whether they stick to it.

If you're thinking of having a party

and don't want a visit from the Noise Squad,

there are simple precautions you can take.

Let your neighbours know what you are planning

and maybe give them an invite.

Keep the music and the party-goers inside.

Shut the windows and doors,

and have the music at a sensible level.

With the music turned down, Siobhan and Ian jump back into the car

and they're heading back to a call from earlier in the evening.

We're going back to the student party that we were at earlier on,

where we spent a good five minutes plus

trying to get their names out of them.

We've had another complaint saying it's still noisy there,

so we're going to go back to the complainants

and have a listen in the bedroom

and see whether we feel the noise is enough to be a nuisance or not.

When they arrive, it's just before one in the morning.

The first job is to head upstairs

to assess the noise levels in the bedroom.

RAISED VOICES

Have they had any music on since we left?

I think in the background, but you can't hear over the voices.

-Sorry to have to call you guys back.

-That's all right. No problem.

You say they've only been in for about a week, or something like that?

Yeah. They obviously think it's party season.

I would view this kind of level at the minute

-more of an annoyance rather than a statutory nuisance.

-Yeah.

Perhaps if it was as loud as it was when you called us up,

we'd probably be able to go round and say, "Right, we've warned you.

"We're going to do a notice for this."

I'm not up to get my fellow students in trouble, any legal trouble,

or anything. That's not what I've... That's not...

I just want them to have some consideration for other people,

and our other neighbours, and just... So we can sleep.

OK, we're going to have a quick word with them again and, as I say,

if it gets intolerable later on, give us another call back

and hopefully we can get things turned down enough.

Ian doesn't think the noise is bad enough to deserve

an abatement notice being served, but this lady is clearly upset

and he decides to head next door to have another word.

When the door opens, though, there's good news.

-Hello.

-We're all heading out now. We're off.

-Oh, OK.

With the party over,

there's nothing more for Ian and Siobhan to do and they head off.

We'll leave you to it, if it's finished.

They might not have taken any further action tonight

but if they witness any problems in the future,

the York Noise Squad will be serving the tenants with an abatement notice.

I felt that the visit we just went to with the students,

with loud voices outside, was quite a good example

of whether it is a stat nuisance or not,

and they're the kind of situations I wanted to experience, really,

because if you make that decision,

you need to be 100% accurate in what you're saying.

Back in the office, Siobhan reflects on her first full night shift.

I think it's been a good experience. I've been able to see

different levels of noise, and also people's tolerance,

how they differ as well.

So it's important to be able to get out of the car

and assess it from an unbiased viewpoint.

So, I think I've done OK.

I think it's a good starting ground to get further experience later on

and hopefully take more leads of more cases in the future.

Right across the country, new flats, offices and hotels

are being built 24/7.

It's just constant and I don't think they seem to get a grip

of how annoying it is.

I don't know what time they'll come,

what they'll be doing, how loud they'll be,

and it's frustrating never knowing when you'll get to sleep.

Last year, the Westminster noise team

dealt with over 1,200 complaints about noisy builders.

Today's a bank holiday, and noise enforcement officer Mike Peters

is on his way to investigate a complaint about noisy workmen.

But that's not his only worry.

Don't get in the bull...bull pat.

As it's a bank holiday,

any noisy building work with heavy machinery is illegal.

When Mike arrives on site, it's all quiet.

That's where it was,

which is funny because there's no sign of building works there,

but there's building works there, and there's building works both sides.

Isn't that odd? Anyway, let's see if the complainant's in to start with.

The lady that called to complain

explains that the builders have headed off.

They have left. But they were working on that building.

-That one there?

-Yes.

-You have a lot of building sites around here.

-It's a nightmare.

Well, we'll find out who they are, won't we?

It's frustrating for all concerned.

But at least the lady who called to complain

should get peace and quiet for the rest of the day.

For his part, Mike knows from first-hand experience

how annoying nuisance noise can be.

I've lived in a flat with noisy neighbours

so I know how awful and distressing it can be.

You get instant job satisfaction

when either you turn off an alarm or the party stops.

Mike's had another call about allegedly noisy builders

and this time, when he turns up, work is still going on.

Hi, there. From Westminster Council.

Who's the boss, please?

It's about the noise you're making...

on a bank holiday.

You'll have to stop. All right?

I'll give you a bit of paper that says you legally have to stop.

-You give me the name of the company.

-Yeah, OK.

Well, you'd better put that down, or do something with it. All right?

The builders down tools

and Mike's going to make sure it stays that way.

What I'm going to do now is to serve a notice on the company

who's carrying out these works.

There's a circular saw there...

hammers... There's obviously been noise being made

and there will be future noise made

because they haven't finished the job yet.

So we'll stop them now with this notice

and if they then make any more noise, we can prosecute the firm for it.

If they contravene the notice, then the maximum fine is £5,000.

So it puts a dent in the profits.

Mike writes out the notice

and explains the laws about noisy building work.

You can work tomorrow,

8 o'clock in the morning till one, Saturday, nothing Sunday,

and nothing Monday because it's another bank holiday. All right?

Having laid down the law, Mike gives the contractor a call

to get their address so that he can serve a notice

which sets out the permitted time for noisy work.

Thank you very much. Great. Bye-bye.

-You must clear off, now.

-Yeah, that's why I'm clearing.

-OK.

-Sorry for that, I don't know that one.

-Yeah, well, a normal Friday you could work...

-Yes, of course.

..but it's a bank holiday today, you see.

I've left a message on the main contractor's answerphone

in the hope that he will get back to me with the registered address,

or an address where I can officially serve the notice

to make it all formal and legal.

and to cover this contractor for the rest of the job.

Normally, on a Friday, they could get away with eight till six,

but, today being a bank holiday, there's nothing noisy allowed at all.

But I will give him some feedback now and tell him what we've done

and ask him to ring us again if there are any more problems from the site.

It's obviously going to be a big job, it'd probably cost him

about eight, nine million to buy it in the first place

and I'm sure they're going to spend another couple of million on it.

Mmm, I'm not sure it cost quite that much

but having had a word, there were no further complaints

about this building site and no further action was necessary.

In order to deal with nuisance noise,

Mike and his colleagues need to witness the problem first-hand.

This can sometimes lead to confrontational situations,

so staying cool and calm is an essential part of the job.

It helps to get on with most people most of the time,

but, at the end of the day,

you have the authority to serve a notice on them

even if they're obstructive.

Right, going into the Bat Cave now.

That's the actual going out bit done,

now you've got to do the admin side of it.

I'm just going to write up the visits,

which will take a long time, and clear off.

Having brought a bit of peace and quiet to a corner of Westminster,

Mike's job is done for the day, and it's time for him to head home.

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

KNOCKING AT DOOR

They've dealt with domestic discos...

You'll have to turn it down a heck of a lot,

it's far too loud at the minute,

so if you're able to sort that out for me

so I don't have to come back again, that'd be great.

..annoying alarms...

Well done. Another case solved.

..and some bank holiday builders.

-You must clear off now.

-Yeah, that's why I'm clearing.

-No problem.

-OK, there?

Sorry for that, I don't know that one.

-Yeah, well, on a normal Friday you could work.

-Yes, of course.

But it's a bank holiday today, you see.

There's no let up in the battle

against anti-social nuisance noise, though, and plenty more cases

still to be dealt with by the Noise Squad.

Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd

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