Man fined for loud Slough music

A resident, whose hi-fi equipment was confiscated by Slough Borough Council last May, has been fined £4,349 for playing excessively loud music from his home.

Slough Resident fined for excessive noise nuisance.Nathan Moore, of Sussex Close, failed to show up to Maidenhead Magistrates Court twice, but was found guilty of failing to comply with an abatement notice served on him contrary to section 80 (4) of the Environmental Protection Act 1990 in his absence on Friday, January 22.

On May 6 last year, the Slough council’s neighbourhood enforcement team carried out the seizure of equipment after numerous complaints from Mr Moore’s neighbours.

The first complaint came in March 2009, and noise diaries were sent out to Slough neighbours to record the occurrences. A letter was also sent to Mr Moore informing him that the council had received a complaint and would be investigating.

In spite of this, the music continued and more calls were made to the out-of-hours environmental health officers.

Slough Council officials contacted the landlady of the house, who is Mr Moore’s mother, and she advised he would move out on April 1. However, he did not leave and the noise and complaints continued.

On April 16, an environmental health officer was called to the complainant’s house to listen first hand to the music, and on hearing the volume level served a noise abatement notice under section 80 of the Environmental Protection Act 1990 the following day.

On April 28, a breach of this notice was witnessed by council officers and as a result a court warrant was obtained to gain entry to his home, with police assistance, to seize all noise making equipment.

Items seized included stereos, Sky boxes, DVD players, speakers and amplifiers.

Claire Braiden environmental health officer for Slough Borough Council, said: “We’re committed to making sure residents in the borough are no subjected to having their quality of life interrupted in such a way. We’re extremely pleased with the outcome.

“The loud noise Mr Moore subjected his neighbours too affected their children, by causing their school work to suffer due to disturbed sleep during the night. This was a very serious case, with disturbance caused by Mr Moore almost every day.

“This noise seizure and conviction is among the first for the council and we hope it serves as a deterrent to others who ruin the quality of life for others through their selfish behaviour and disruptive noise.”

Cllr Shafiq Chaudhry, commissioner for Slough neighbourhoods and renewal, said: “This is excellent work by the neighbourhood enforcement team.

“I hope this will show residents that the environmental health team take such complaints extremely seriously and will not tolerate noisy, disruptive and disrespectful behaviour in Slough.”

Slough Borough Council