Residents in one area of York are being plagued with nightly ‘prank’ noises giving them regular sleepless nights and making their lives a misery.
But despite having called in the council’s enforcement team three months ago, the nightmare is still ongoing.
Now fears are growing that someone might crack under the strain and take direct action against the culprit.
Watch the video
Residents in and around Hewley Avenue in Tang Hall believe the noises may be someone’s idea of retaliation – after complaints were lodged about their anti-social behaviour.
The long-suffering residents think the perpetrator has bought an ‘annoying noise maker’. And they are using it night after night after night – for 12 weeks so far.
“It started with an alarm in the beginning, at the start of July, every night. Every single night,” resident Bex Harding told YorkMix.
Now it is a mix of different sounds, all designed to infuriate. There’s bleeping, chirping, the warning noise when a truck’s reversing, alarms and more.
Hewley Avenue
Bex said: “At first, we thought it was a bike alarm. We didn’t know if it was somebody’s fire alarm until we paced around at different times.
“It was going off in summer from 11 at night till seven in the morning.
“Now it’s got dark, it starts at about eight till about seven in the morning. Intermittent, not at a certain time, not for a certain length.”
It echoes around the blocks of flats in the cul de sac and it was blighting the lives of people not just in Hewley Avenue but in nearby streets.
Residents contacted City of York Council whose Neighbourhood Enforcement Team did visit and take readings.
Bex said: “They’ve asked the community to go outside at different times during the early hours, hide, wait for the noise and record it, then walk towards the noise whilst recording in order to try and figure out where it’s coming from. So we did.”
Some of their recordings can be seen and heard in the video above. They feel they’ve located the block where the noises are being generated.
But nothing has been done to stop the perpetrator. And Bex says “a few people are getting extremely angry and wanting to fill them in”.
“I’m not sleeping, a lot of the neighbours aren’t sleeping,” she said, One resident, aged in his 70s, had to go to hospital due to an illness they believe was partly brought on due to the stress of the sleepless nights.
“People’s work is suffering. We’ve got a university lecturer in a private rented flat next to me and her partner, and they’ve all been in touch. They were just so annoyed that nothing has moved on in this three months.
“Why are we going through all this? It’s just too much. It’s was all right at beginning. But it’s three months in.
“How long does it have to go on for before we find out who it is and then steps are taken against them? We want this person out.”
Bex described the perpetrator as “very bored, very horrible and spiteful”.
They’ve also asked York Central MP Rachael Maskell to help, and involved the police too.
Jane Mowat, head of community safety at City of York Council, said: “This is an ongoing case which the council’s Neighbourhood Enforcement Team are in the process of investigating, in partnership with colleagues in Housing Services.
“North Yorkshire Police are also aware of the situation.
“In recent weeks, the team have made regular visits to the area and written to all local residents.
“Those impacted are asked for their continued help in providing any information or evidence that might assist the investigation.
“While the investigation is ongoing, officers will continue to visit, assess information as it comes in and continue with the hope of reaching a satisfactory conclusion.”