to have told this man off

[wanttomove1]

For a bit of background I am recovering from a nervous breakdown I had last year, suffer from terrible anxiety and stay up all night due to both these things.

The only reason I mention the above points is that since I am a bit of a mess currently I question myself often, hence this post.

I live in a block of flats. The flats are in the same complex as some houses. All of this faces out on one side to a large car park. The car park is lined with trees and there is a cathedral behind the trees.

At the start of the summer (ish) the car park was turned into a covid testing site. Three different groups have been in charge of it and every time new people arrived they would have cars and vans with the engines running literally all day. When asked to turn the engines off the response was always "it's my job and covid is bad". So everyone had to complain to the council and the next day, lo and behold, the genius move of not having several cars running all day every day was implemented without any huge effort necessary on the part of the testing site.

Just FYI I'm not a fussy person who complains constantly but it was impossible to go on the balcony or have the windows open because the fumes got so bad.

So around a month ago a huge NHS testing site was set up in the car park. It is staffed 24/7. Now, I'm not going to say I was thrilled by this but just got on with it. I even get on with some of the people who work there and will go out on the balcony for a chat if I see someone I've got to know.

Yet again from day one there have been cars with their engines running, all day and now all night as well. When a neighbor, not me, politely asked the staff to look into not doing this he got the standard "it's my job mate, covid". So again, had to make it official (another person was in charge of this, not me) and again with obvious resentment engines were turned off.

The site has huge floodlights that originally were left on all night. One, you can see in the pic. One points towards the trees and there is another one right near the windows of the flats. After pressure from residents all but the one light that faces away were turned off after 10pm. This did not leave the site dark, there are lots of other smaller lights around it.

Last night there were two new security guards. They parked two cars right under my window, with the engines running talking loudly and slamming the doors over and over again all fucking night. They left all the floodlights on all night.

When it got light and the day shift of people started to arrive all the floodlights were still on. It's difficult to explain how when something is constant it gets really annoying. I waved and called out to one guy who initially did his best to ignore me. Eventually he deigned to acknowledge me.

I said politely, "does that light (pointing to the one shining into my face) need to be on."
"Yes."
"The two shining towards us are normally off at 10pm, they get turned on in the afternoon when it's dark."
"It's always been on"
"I live here and I can assure you it gets turned off."
"No, it doesn't."
"..have you been here before?"
"No."
"So you've not been here, and I have and you're telling me the light was on when I'm telling you it was off."
"Yes."

His whole attitude was extremely surly. I told him he was being rude. He said he didn't think he was. I told him he was clearly too ignorant to understand that he was being rude and fucked off inside.

The lights got switched off and now (8pm) they are off, alot earlier than usual. So I guess the message got passed on.

What fucks me off is not that there have been problems. It's that its never just as simple as saying:

"Hey, how about not running that car engine outside someone's window 24/7."
"Seems reasonable!"

I'm now just worried I came across like a mad bitch and I'm feeling nervous about seeing the same guy over and over again for the next few months which is how long the site will be here. I didn't have my glasses on and the guy was very nondescript so actually I wouldn't recognise him if I spoke to him again. There were lots of other people stood around staring at me when I lost my rag.

Was I being unreasonable?

No you aren’t being unreasonable. I completely see why your annoyed and I would be fuming if someone disturbed my sleep / what feels like an invasion of your personal space.

You are reaching the end of your tether and this guy got the brunt of it. Don’t feel bad but definitely raise it again and see if you have a good local MP who might be able to help

Also these selfish people running their engines are ignorant as pollution makes Covid much worse in terms of transmission and lung damage. They are literally fuelling it. You should not be disturbed in this way with the lights and noise and the site should be run with consideration for residents:

Why the hell do they need to have their car engines running all night? Utter nonsense and a criminally wasteful use of fuel.
Leaving unnecessary floodlights on all night -- ditto.
Not to mention the noise and pollution.
Keep complaining!

YANBU at all OP. It’s extremely stressful when you can’t fully relax in your own home for whatever reason. Definitely work with your neighbours to keep reporting this stuff if it continues - you should not have to put up with it.

All the best with your recovery, btw - I hope you’re getting the support you need. Anxiety is a bitch

When they say they can't turn the engine off as it's covid innit. Reply.
So what are you trying to do drum up business by, giving us all bad lungs by running engines so we catch it then?
What a bunch of numpties.

YANBU - I can’t understand why the engines have to keep running 24/7 and why flood lights are pointing towards your flats.
I think some signage needs to go up sharpish around the site saying engines must be switched off and to think of the residents. If the people in charge won’t do it I’d be tempted to do it myself if I were you.

I'm another that doesn't understand the need for engines to be running and constant floodlights.

I'm sorry that you've had such a hard time and this situation makes it worse.

If you fancy a laugh, I had to have a covid test a few weeks ago. Went to a drive through test site and my car broke down where everyone parks up to do the actual test. Felt a right knob

The noise from the engines, people and lights would drive me mad op! Keep making formal complaints

You were very lenient but I'd have gone out & got them turned off at 10pm. Constant reminders - tell them the fumes of the car are bad for vulnerable residents

Time for a complaint that they are not properly communicating the guidelines to new workers, instead reacting when a complaint comes in, which just annoys everyone involved and the end result (lights off, engines off) is the same every time.

A 24hr covid testing site in a residential estate is bang out of order! There are plenty of car parks they could use, why on earth choose that one. Complain until they shift it or at least start being considerate.

see i would have trouble with this because if i dont get a proper nights sleep i faint and can hardly walk and i can become really dangerous to myself, I have also got very suicidal due to lack of sleep before Due to a Generator being on every night for 3 nights, in the end i slept in my car remote so i could get some sleep.

I think they need to be more respectful of people living there

Yanbu

Why on earth do they have it open 24 hours in a residential area? Surely it goes against the residents right to a quiet life or whatever the correct phrase is.

Surely if there is a need for 24 hour access then this should be situated in an industrial estate/retail park/out of town car park and leave the residential ones for business hours only

OP if I were you I would get together with the other residents and petition for a closure between say 8pm to 8am

If getting everyone to complain to the council worked last time, I'd go down that route rather than engaging with them directly if that has proved unsuccessful and/or makes you feel uncomfortable.
If it's 24/7 seems unreasonable that it is so close to residential housing, but given that it is, there's no need for 24/7 floodlighting and running engines, so perfectly possible to complain without it being a NIMBY rant.
Doesn't your council have an environmental policy that you could remind them of?

Ugh, I would be at the end of my rope. Yanbu.

I don’t know about the wider issue, which sounds like a nightmare, but next time you see that particular man, big smile, say how grateful you are that he took your comments on board snd how much you appreciate the action he took (assuming it sticks). Job done as far as seeing him every day is concerned.

I have been to a Covid test centre. The only engines running were from cars arriving and leaving. There is no need to have engines running constantly.

They also should have respect for their neighbours. Yes they are doing important work, but people need to sleep and have the right to the quiet enjoyment of their homes.

I would email, cc I got my mp, setting hoe he extent to which the practices are impacting your lives. Be clear you aren’t asking for the testing centre to be removed, you understand it is doing vital work, but it should be operated in a manner which is respectful to the rights of people living in the immediate vicinity.

Good luck. I would be raging 😊

@Womencanlift People can't get tested 24/7. At around 6/7 they shut the gate and by around 9 all the day shift people filter out and leave 2 security guards. Then there are deliveries of food and supplies, picking up the tests to transport, bins, porta loos etc. The generator runs 24/7 and some security guards like the ones last night seem to just have no consideration at all. It's a bit mad.

I was chatting to two different security guards, who I quite like, last week. They had the impression that because it's a car park we must have all kinds of noise and odd goings on all night every night. I had to point out to them that, no we don't because no one in their right mind is going to go into a car park overlooked by loads of people's windows, with a main road and a pathway running either side of it to do something dodgy. That's not to say there isn't sometimes some noise or something but not constantly.

There are certainly other areas they could use that would make more sense. I think this is probably just easier rather than the only place they could do it.

I am quite emboldened by these replies though so I'll be looking into formally complaining and checking what other people have done.

Sorry you have been treated so badly OP, that’s appalling. Especially when so easy for them to not be complete jerks.

(It’s illegal to leave a car engine running in a stationary car unless in a traffic jam.)

Make constant complaints to the council and get everyone in your building to do the same. We had an issue in our village that at first the council told us nothing could be done about. The local Facebook mums group got cross and got everyone to complain and by the end of the day the council had completely reversed their position. Nagging authority can work.

God I would be seething.

YANBU at all and you know it

@Twigletfairy aww bless you. If it was here I could have brought you some cake XD

What do these people do that they think they need their car engines to run all the time? And what do they allege it is about covid that makes it necessary?

Thank you @Francescat I am much better than I was a year ago.

I've never had an explanation about leaving engines running for vast periods of time. It's even more aggravating because it's such a stupid thing to do for no benefit to anyone.

@MoonJelly Saying "covid testing" seems to mean you can then do whatever you want! I might give it a go.