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Original poster

Noise pollution from restaurant next door - extractor fan running overnight

76 replies

QueenStromba · 13/12/2015 17:49

We can hear the extractor fan from the restaurant next door in every room of the flat - it's kind of like living in an airplane but quieter. It's always bothered me but I figured it was just part of living in a town centre. Recently though they've been running the fans all night rather than just 8.30am to 11pm. I get to sleep by listening to audio books to drown the noise out but if I wake up in the night I can't do that without waking DH up and so end up laying there awake until I either fall asleep from exhaustion or give up and get up. I have a health condition which is worsened by lack of sleep (probably fibromyalgia but I don't have a firm diagnosis yet) so losing out on a chunk of sleep a couple of times a week is starting to really damage my health and have a massive effect on my life.

I did go in to talk to them last week but I assumed that they had been just forgetting to turn the fan off so I was thrown when they told me that they needed it on because they were cooking overnight. I'm going to go back and talk to the general manager and want to try and work this out amicably but I'd like to know where I stand legally in case they try to fob me off. It's not very loud but can be heard over traffic noise during the day and sounds a lot louder a night when there is no other noise. If I can't get any joy from the restaurant are the council likely to do something about it?

OP posts:
tribpot · 31/12/2015 18:11

Sounds very promising. I very much doubt any of the minions in the restaurant want this guy phoning them because he's been woken up at midnight by you!

Original poster
QueenStromba · 31/12/2015 18:13

I might breeze through on Sunday and remind them that I have his number and have no qualms phoning people in the middle of the night - should focus their tiny little minds a bit.

OP posts:
tribpot · 31/12/2015 18:28

Perhaps go and 'thank' them for taking the matter so seriously and say how happy you are with the response you got from Head of European Ops. Iron fist - velvet glove.

Original poster
QueenStromba · 31/12/2015 19:54

DH and I have agreed that the next time they leave it on at night I should either wait until morning to call the head of Europe or ring the general manager and point out how lucky he is that I rang him.

OP posts:
ClaudiaWankleman · 31/12/2015 20:09

I think it's also worth making a comment about how unhelpful the manager was with refusing to give you a name or number to contact. Everywhere I have worked, that's very poor practice and I would be pulled up on it.

tribpot · 31/12/2015 20:10

Do you have the general manager's number? That wasn't the woman who refused to give you name, rank and serial number earlier, I take it?

I definitely would call the GM, following up with the Head of Ops in the morning. But I really am hoping they're (metaphorically) shitting it enough now that no-one will forget to turn this damn thing off again.

Original poster
QueenStromba · 31/12/2015 20:50

I do have the general manager and assistant general manager's numbers and have phoned them both in the middle of the night.

The woman manager definitely needs more training. We talked to her on the 6th and were given the impression that the fan was meant to be on all night. Since we were expecting that it was on accidentally we went off to regroup and were far more sleep deprived and annoyed when we went back in a week later. She did manage to turn it off on the 15th though and even though she fucked up today, I assume it was her that escalated it - she must have either phoned the general manager despite him being on holiday or the head of Europe.

I'm a bit less forgiving of the general manager. I felt really fobbed off when I spoke to him, I felt that maybe he'd try to make sure the fan was off overnight but he didn't seem to care that it was just generally loud. I reported them to EH about an hour after I spoke to him.

I will email the head of Europe and lay out what's happened and where I think they've gone wrong but will wait until after there is a resolution unless he doesn't keep me happy then I will put it all in an email to the CEOs.

OP posts:
Original poster
QueenStromba · 03/01/2016 10:55

Well they've left the fan on all night again - I was sure they'd be on their best behaviour. I woke up at 3am and didn't really get back to sleep after that - I'm exhausted. DH is going to phone big boss in a bit - I'm way too tired to do it.

OP posts:
tribpot · 03/01/2016 12:27

That's very disappointing indeed. I hope your DH got a satisfactory 'heads will roll' type response from the big boss (I assume you mean Head of Ops guy).

Original poster
QueenStromba · 03/01/2016 12:54

DH spoke to head of ops who was not happy about the fan being left on - he'd already had a stern talk with the management team. He's promised that it will be off tonight, presumably that means that he will be calling them at closing time to make sure it's off. He also said to call him if it's ever left on again, even if it's the middle of the night, and he will send someone out to turn it off.

OP posts:
originalmavis · 03/01/2016 12:59

Watching with interest!

We have the same but I can't pinpoint where the whooshing is coming from - its 24hrs! I suspect it's an aircon installed on a roof (lots of building work around here) and you can't really hear it on street level but it drives me mad in the evenings.

tribpot · 03/01/2016 13:13

Good response from the Head of Ops, you've now got explicit permission to call him in the middle of the night. Anyone stupid enough to think being sent down to the restaurant at 2 a.m. by the Head of Ops isn't a 'career limiting move' deserves the consequences. Sounds to me like he needs to fire the management team at this place given they appear to have no ability to follow simple instructions and no respect for his authority, let alone any kind of customer management skill.

Original poster
QueenStromba · 03/01/2016 14:15

You have my sympathies Mavis - I think it helps that I know who to be angry at! Business premises need planning permission for aircon and ventilation systems so it could be worth having a look at planning applications on your local council website to see if you can figure out who it belongs to. Residential properties also needed PP before 2011 (air con falls under permitted development since).

Hopefully we won't need to call him in the middle of the night tribpot but it does make me feel better to know that we can. I'd imagine that we'd only need to call him at 3am once - as you say, being responsible for waking the head of ops up would definitely be a career limiting move.

OP posts:
originalmavis · 03/01/2016 15:34

That is an excellent idea about planning permission, although one neighbour knocked down an entire house to rebuild a new one without any planning permission.

One day there was a house, next there was a big hole. How we all laughed when the council told him to put it back (Russian kid, didn't give a monkeys and we assumed just paid a penalty).

There was work being done on some blocks so it could be there but its really hard to pinpoint the exact location of the noise. I just hope the council noise people have some whizzy noise location machine!

tribpot · 03/01/2016 23:39

Hoping for a quiet night on 'Fanwatch', tune in tomorrow :)

Original poster
QueenStromba · 04/01/2016 11:30

Fan was turned off at about 10 :)

Environmental health are coming later. I'll let you know what they say.

OP posts:
tribpot · 04/01/2016 11:34

Excellent. More cavalry.

Original poster
QueenStromba · 04/01/2016 12:24

Accidentally phoned the head of ops while trying to phone the vet - thought I'd caught it on time but he had a missed call so left me a message while I was talking to the vet. The engineer is either on site or will be shortly. The fans going to be off when the EH man gets here isn't it.

OP posts:
tribpot · 04/01/2016 12:35

Oh dear, pocket dial fail. Is the fan on at the moment? Even if they want to turn it off, they can't really whilst they're actually cooking.

ClaudiaWankleman · 04/01/2016 13:27

Good luck Queen

Original poster
QueenStromba · 04/01/2016 13:54

The fan is still on and the EH man is due in about an hour. I suppose the engineer is fixing the timer and will come back with the correct bits to make it quieter later in the week - I guess they'll have to do that overnight.

OP posts:
Original poster
QueenStromba · 04/01/2016 15:12

The EH guy just left. He reckons that they're breaching the planning conditions with both the level of the noise and the frequencies. I gave him the head of ops' number - he's going to talk to him and get back to me. He also reckons that there's no chance the noise problem will be fixed today.

OP posts:
tribpot · 04/01/2016 16:34

Right, this is good too. Positive confirmation that it's not you being noise sensitive! Why does he think the engineer won't be able to fix it today, because it's a replacement rather than a damn good cleaning that it needs?

Meht · 04/01/2016 16:49

OP, just to get you through this nightmare until its sorted - Boots the chemist sell wax earplugs, I cut mine a bit smaller, then roll in your hand to warm/soften them & insert! Very very comfortable. I used to work nights so have tried loads!

Hope the noise is sorted asap, Ive recently been having some issues with a passive ventilation system in my new house, so understand how frustrating it is at night. Theyve sort of resolved my problem.

Original poster
QueenStromba · 04/01/2016 18:48

I am very glad that it's not just me being over sensitive - I was a bit worried that he was going to say it was fine. He agreed with me that it's probably wear and tear from not turning the bloody thing off ever so presumably thinks that some parts are going to need replacing. It's not any quieter yet so I guess he was right.

Thanks Meht - will try and get to Boots tomorrow. Hopefully I won't need them at night but it would be nice to have some peace and quiet during the day.

OP posts: