Car Wash Too Noisy

12 January 2011, 17:04 | Updated: 12 January 2011, 17:09

A Bedford car wash has been ordered to pay costs of more than £4,000 following complaints over noise levels.

Magistrates have upheld a noise abatement notice on Mr Ilir Sadiku, the operator of Roni's Hand Car Wash at 89 Brickhill Drive, Bedford.

The notice was served by Bedford Borough Council following repeated complaints from residents in Brickhill Drive.

The Council took sound recordings of the noise generated by the jet washers on site. and issued the abatement notice on Mr Sadiku on 19 August last year,.

The operators of the car wash appealed the notice and called an acoustic expert witness to support their case.

District Judge Nicholas Leigh-Smith, said he was satisfied that the evidence presented by the Council "amounted to an unreasonable and material interference in the residents' life and enjoyment of their property". He upheld the notice.

The council's costs of £4,516 were awarded against the car wash operator.

Councillor Will Hunt, Portfolio Holder for Public Health, said: "I applaud the action of the Environment Health Department in this case. All too often people think that they are powerless against others who cause noise nuisance. This shows that Bedford Borough Council does take its role seriously and will try to support its residents in such cases."