AIBU to report repeated emergency call-outs at new neighbours' house?

[Chickpeaqueen]

I can't work out if I'm being unreasonable, but I'm feeling a bit unnerved. We had new neighbours move in a few weeks ago. Since then we've had an emergency service at their house practically everyday. One night the police and a taxi woke us all up over an unpaid taxi fare, which lasted an hour. The next night we were woken by police doing what sounded like hammering a door down inside. A few days later a fire engine was outside at midnight ....various police car and ambulances on and off throughout the past week or so. Today a fire engine has been sat directly outside my house for four hours, blocking the road. The police have been there, with another ambulance. Took about five hours for everyone to leave. I asked the firemen if everything was alright and they simply replied 'yes' although I'm sure I heard them mention knives. It's not very pleasant for your kids to arrive home from school and find a fire engine and four firemen standing directly outside their house. A friend who works for housing has suggested reporting it to the council, but I'm not sure if I want to be that person. But equally, I also don't want to keep being woken up at night and it's starting to put me off letting the kids go out on their own. I imagine it's to do with mental health, which I sympathise with but it still doesn't take away the impact it's having. Is it unreasonable to report it?

I take it you have made the school aware.

A friend had a similar issue. All HA properties.
The woman repeatedly called 999.
The gas leak saga went on for 4 days.
There was no gas leak.
The woman said 'youths ' had run through her house, & called the police. They hadn't.
She called 999 for fire engines to put the 'out of control' chimnea out in my friends garden twice.
She hoarded pets that were always removed, despite having a ban from keeping them.
They went shopping in the of the night, disturbing everyone around them when they got back, shouting and slamming doors.
It was relentless. Despite the many complaints about these people, the HA took so long to move them. It only happened when he became so ill (not surprised with utter filth/animal waste they lived in) that he became hospitalised and unfit to return. They moved her out shortly after.
It then took a month to rid the house of fleas 🤮
BUT..... be careful what you wish for, the new lot haven't been much better 😌

Yes, make notes & find out who to report to.
Just because the emergency services have been out, it doesn't necessarily mean their agency worker is informed every time.
Good luck

@Chickpeaqueen I actually experienced something similar to this whilst I was renting a flat a few years ago. A lady had rented a flat below me and, contrary to the rules, had sublet it to her DB who had just come out of prison. He caused absolute mayhem and the police were visiting constantly to try and sort the issues out. He was eventually arrested after a particularly harrowing event in the early hours of the morning

I'm not suggesting that the circumstances of your neighbours are similar but just wanted to sympathise with you as I know how worrying it can be. I agree with other PP's who have suggested keeping a log of events but I also feel it's worth biding your time as the issues may sort themselves out. If one or more of the household is suffering from MH issues, the move may have unsettled them.

Hope things will settle down for you, your family and your neighbours

I feel for you, I’d be really pissed off if my sleep kept getting disturbed and being asked to leave my house.

“Not easy living beside lunatics”.

Aren’t you charming 😐

Theres often threads asking “Should we buy this house next to social housing” and everyone always says, yes, don’t be so snobby…Although 95% of these houses in our village are lived in peacefully, the other 5% cause havoc. The council seem to think moving a chaotic family somewhere quiet will help them. It doesn’t. It just makes life miserable for the poor people that have to live around them.

I don’t know why you’ve had so many digs about this post.
Your neighbours shouldn’t have this big of an impact on your life. Being disturbed multiple times a week and asked to leave your house in the middle of the night is ridiculous.
I'm sure the neighbours aren’t having a great time either, but your main concern is your household.
If these new neighbours can’t cope with life, they shouldn’t be housed where they will cause such disruption to the majority.

OP, I feel for you, you’re not being unreasonable. And I say that as someone with mental health problems who’s had the ES out many times, including having my door bashed in on various occasions. It probably doesn’t help, but I was deeply ashamed of the noise and inconvenience caused to my neighbours. I agree with others that the relevant agencies will already have been informed if there are any safeguarding issues.

Hopefully this is a crisis and it will die down. 💐

You think the stretched emergency services will suddenly come up with some plan that fixes it because the neighbour isn't sleeping well and reported it to the council? You will be the least of their concern. They are dealing with emergencies day in and day out and will already have other agencies involved to try and reduce call outs.

🤣🤣🤣 yeh.

So we had this with our neighbour.
Turned out she was an alcoholic. She'd get drunk, feel ill and would phone an ambulance, then pass out. Then the ambulance would arrive and would get no response - then the police & fire would arrive to break down the door.

It was a total nightmare. Lights flashing & sirens going at 3 in the morning disturbing all the neighbours, as well as the times she'd phone neighbours during the night seeking alcohol.

She only lived there about a year as she eventually died.
I think you need to complain - unfortunately she had bought that house so we didn't have that option. You can probably do it annonymously.

I would 100% be reporting this and asking the police for further information. If you were removed from your own home in the middle of the night due to safety concerns you deserve to know more about what’s going on especially when you have children living with you.

If you and them could potentially be in danger you need to know all the facts about who you’re in danger from.

That would be the best course of action imo. The HA will be able to liaise with ASC/CMHT as appropriate, and will already have establised connections with both.

The "large holding pen for antisocial tenants" was unpleasant too. Thank goodness the laws in the UK prevent such things, or this sort of thing would actually happen.

My money's on whichever member of the neighbouring household has been calling the emergency services being moved to supported accommodation or even admitted to hospital if they're having a MH crisis.

I hope it's soon resolved, for OP's sake.

Assuming that they do have MH issues. They might just be anti social scum.

Do you object to the use of the holding pen language or do you object to an area specifically for those with proven, documented anti social behaviour being put in an area together so that their behaviour affects only them and their ilk?

I can see why it would piss OP off though....

I sympathise, have twice lived next to people with mental health issues who have been really tricky neighbours. I reported both of them - the first to try to get her more support as she sounded so distressed (and I hoped that would stop her screaming waking me up) and in the end with the second repeated complaints to police, council etc as their behaviour was really disturbing and anti social. I think for now keep a diary of all the incidents and the impact on you and see how it goes - maybe they will settle in and if not you then have a lot of evidence to support a report

Yes OP please report, In my role, this level of concern is treated as a significant safeguarding issue, and it’s one of the primary reasons people are referred to our service.

In the agencies I work with, something like this would usually result in a safeguarding referral.

The safeguarding team would then link in with the police and any other relevant services to gather more information, assess the level of risk and decide what support the person may need.

This kind of coordinated response is exactly what the Care Act 2014 sets out, with health, housing, police and social care expected to work together.

And to address the usual concerns about data sharing, information sharing in safeguarding situations is lawful under the Data Protection Act 2018 and UK GDPR.

Thank you for a helpful response. It's been reported now by several neighbours.

If emergency services attend and have reason to be concerned they would have a duty to report it themselves.
I'm a little unsure as to what a bystander could report in as a safeguarding concern re the presence of emergency vehicles, as they wouldn't know the reason they were attending.

Service failures do occur, and a common issue is the assumption that another agency has already raised the concern. When each service believes someone else has escalated the issue, the result is that nothing is escalated at all.

Safeguarding guidance therefore encourages anyone with a specific concern, whether it relates to neglect, abuse, or an unmet need, to report it even if they think another service may already have done so.

The aim is to prevent gaps in communication rather than to duplicate work.

We see this frequently in our ad hoc and property guardian settings. The council rents properties from housing associations, which creates mixed tenancies.
Emergency services often report concerns to the council, but the council does not always pass those concerns on to the housing association.

This breakdown in communication leaves risks unaddressed and tenants without the support they need.

Also a bystander who repeatedly witnesses emergency vehicles attending a property almost nightly, has valuable information.

Each individual incident on its own might not have triggered a response, but when you put them together, a clear pattern emerges. That pattern should prompt a safeguarding investigation.
I’ve seen firsthand how services can fail when everyone assumes “someone else must have reported it.”

Thanks for your post. So where would OP need to report it?