A music-mad council tenant whose tumultuous tunes drove neighbours up the wall has had stereo equipment seized after failing to heed a formal warning.
Environmental health officers from Dacorum Borough Council were left with no option but to break into the Hemel Hempstead town centre flat to take the noisy neighbour’s music system away after a statutory noise nuisance notice was ignored.
A number of other people living in the apartment block had complained to the council that the tenant regularly played amplified music at excessive levels, but the order failed to solve the problem.
The council’s environmental protection and housing team leader Nick Egerton said: “Despite the notice served the noise continued and officers had no choice but to take direct action.
“We obtained a warrant from the court and broke into the flat and seized the tenant’s music equipment.
“This was a good example of partnership working with the police, who supported our intervention from the onset, and agreed to accompany officers on the day the equipment was seized.”
To date this year, nine noise abatement notices have been carried out in Dacorum – three times the amount served in the whole of 2012.
But in 2011, a total of 16 notices were handed out for noise nuisance.
Borough council spokesman Sara Hamilton explained: “We aim to resolve issues informally where possible, meaning that in many cases there is no need to take formal action.
“Notices are however served where an informal approach has failed.”