Sweet Home Alabama is a classic rock tune which has endured the test of time.
But repeated playing of the Lynyrd Skynyrd track at top volume meant its charms wore thin among neighbours in Bishophill, York.
The noise levels from this and other songs saw City of York Council officers move in to confiscate the stereo which played them on Saturday (May 21).
The CD player was removed by community safety hub officers with support from North Yorkshire Police.
And during Noise Action Week (May 23-28) the council is warning other offenders to turn the volume down – or face fines of thousands of pounds.
Shut the flip up
The council received more than 2,000 complaints about noise during 2015-16, which included crowing cockerels, DJ garden parties and yapping terriers.
Noise complaints make up 43% of all antisocial behaviour reports made by residents to the council’s community safety hub, run jointly with the police.
After mediation or investigation, 29 noise abatement notices were served by hub officers last year.
Failure to comply can be costly. In the past year York magistrates have
- fined a resident £1.7K for playing music with a heavy bass beat which kept neighbours in their block of flats awake
- fined the owner of a pair of terriers £5.1K – the dogs barked up to 43 times a minute for four hours at a time.
Got a noise problem?
Noise from licensed premises or businesses should be reported to 01904 551525 or on [email protected].
Residents suffering domestic noise can contact the neighbourhood enforcement team on 01904 551555 or on [email protected].
The neighbourhood enforcement team provide a Friday and Saturday evening noise patrol service from 9pm- 3am, responding to and investigating complaints received from members of the public.
On investigation, if officers believe that the noise is causing a nuisance they can serve an abatement notice.
This could be due to noise from premises, vehicles, equipment or machinery and must be shown to impact on someone’s quality of life.
If someone doesn’t comply with an abatement notice they can be prosecuted and fined.