The recent case in the national press of a man driven to vandalise a faulty house alarm after the noise became unbearable has led me to write to you about the total lack of support for victims of noise nuisance in the Bournemouth area.

Having been a civilian worker with Police.uk/" target="_blank">Dorset Police, I am aware of the manner in which victims of this distressing and anti-social nuisance are dealt with.

Police staff are told to advise callers that police “do not deal with noise nuisance now.”

The frantic caller is told to contact the environmental Health department of the council.

As most noise nuisance happens at night, callers to the number given by the police get a recorded message – but no help.

My own experience concerns a large dog constantly locked in a one bedroom flat above my own, and barking and howling non-stop for several hours during the week. I am both distressed for the poor dog and driven mad by the noise.

Environmental Health tell you to keep a log for three weeks and send it back to them. This is very time-consuming, it obliges you to put your life on hold to try to record the nuisance, and you also have to continue to endure the stress and misery.

I was informed that they would call on three occasions and see if they heard the dog barking. If they do not hear it on the occasions they visit then they will abandon the complaint!

The Environmental Health department is also happy to advise victims to take a private court case against the offender who is causing the nuisance.

In other words, they can’t be bothered so we should go away and do it ourselves.

Why doesn’t the council just close this useless department down? Local police and the council should be ashamed of themselves for evading their responsibility.

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