House alarm sounding

[rcl1]

Apologies if this is the wrong section to post, but could't think of anywhere else to ask:

There has been a house alarm continually sounding since approx 6pm tonight and it is still sounding now.

Unfortuntely I dont know which street or which house the alarm is coming from. (The roads around mine are very close together and its hard to tell what direction sounds are coming from.)

Is there anyone I can report this too such as environmental health in the hope that someone can turn it off, or is it a case of grin and bare it?

Sadly this alarm (I assume its the same one) seems to go off every couple of weeks and stays on throughout the night.

TIA

[stonekicker]

Yup - used to work for the local council and it is environmental health you need to contact. good luck - service varies from area to area!

[jb190281]

I had a very similar problem last week. The alarm had been going off since 7.30 so by 11.15 i was well and truly annoyed. I phoned the police station, as the alarm was from a commercial building and thought perhaps theyd investigate a break in?? Nope, i was simply told it wasnt 'hooked up' to their system and there was nothing they could do. They gave me an out of hours contact number for the local council, but when I phoned them, advised that unless it was a council property, there was nothing they could do and suggested i contact the police. Amazingly though, it went off 5 mins later. For a recurring problem like yours, i would think environment health would get involved as it is noise pollution.

[Buenchico]

Your local council are empowered to take action to silence the alarm under Section 80 of the Environmental Protection Act 1990. You can submit a complaint if the alarm has been ringing for more than 20 minutes. (Alarms are meant to automatically cut-out after sounding for 20 minutes). If the council can't contact a keyholder they can (after the alarm has been sounding for an hour) obtain a magistrate's warrant to enter the premises in order to silence the alarm. They can charge the householder for doing so. They can also prosecute the householder for failing to fit a 20-minute cut-out and for the resulting noise pollution (with a maximum fine of �5000).

Your local council will probably have relevant information on their website but this example might help:
http://www.camden.gov.uk/print/ccm/content/env ironment/environmental-health--consumer-protec tion/noise/reducing-noise/burglar-alarms.en?pa ge=all

Chris

[rcl1]

Am even more peed off now than before making any calls.

Phoned the EHO who advised that their officers dont work this evening and advised to contact the police. (they also said the police would tell me to phone the EHO but to insist I had already done that and wanted to log the call with the police).

As advised, I called the police - who did tell me to call EHO. I insisted that I hgad already spoken to them and repeated the above info.

The police said I had been given the wrong info, this was not a police matter and the EHO would have to attend the premises in the moring (they start work at 8am).

I did ask how this was not a police matter as it is a burglar alarm soundidng and therefore the premises may have been broken into, to which the response was ' well, we have had no other complaints (I never even got to give my address) and as it had been sounding since 6pm, it was probably a faulty alarm and not a break in.

Bl00dy marvellous.

In the mean time, I have been up since 4.15 am due to noisy neighbours, worked a 9hr shift, am exhaisted and still cant sleep cause of this flippin alarm.

AAAAAAAAAAARRRRGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!

[paraffin]

In my experience, and from what you say, seems like this is more likely to be coming from a commercial premises rather than a private home.
Unless someone actually goes to the trouble of tracking it down, then nothing will be achieved, and you'll find it'll continue to activate.
Unfortunately, it isn't a matter for Police to respond to an audible alarm, especially when no one seems to know exactly where it's located.
Plus, the EHO "response" is also typical, again in my experience, even if it IS something within their remit.

If anyone can locate it, try to obtain details either of the premises and/or the alarm company, and that way someone with some responsibility for it may be tracked down.
I appreciate that this won't help you at the moment. Sorry.

[madmuriel]

You can contact the local council,(environmental health section) they should have a team of noise enforcement officers, who may be able to do something about the alarm.