Tatter bugles are banned
Monday 22nd November 2010, 11:30AM GMT.
The traditional bugle played by rag-and-bone men in the Black Country has been outlawed under new council rules which label it “noise pollution”.
Dudley Council alone has received 16 complaints from residents about the noise disturbance from the bugles since May and now environmental health officers are on the case.
They have been joining police for spot checks on rag-and-bone men as part of Operation Steel, which tackles metal theft, warning that the bugle can no longer be played as they do their rounds.
Letters from the council have also been sent to known scrap dealers in the borough. There have also been complaints about the noise of the bugles in other parts of the region including Stafford and Kidderminster.
Local historian Professor Carl Chinn MBE said the sound of the bugle formed part of the region’s heritage.
“Sounds are a vital part of our landscape and of our living history,” he said. “Church bells pealing, children playing, and scrap metal merchants playing their bugles – which last for what, a few seconds.
“I fear we are in danger of becoming a homogenised, sanitised and sterilised society, with no individuality, diversity or colour.”
Council spokesman Phil Parker said: “Since a joint operation between the council and police in September the authority has received calls complainants to confirm that the collectors are now co-operating with noise issues.”
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Thank the Lord! Now let’s hope South Staffs follow suit.
If we can get rid of these motorised beggars all together, even better!
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Yes, it is a strange noise, but the honest ones do us a good service overall and how else can we know they are there? We certainly do NOT need them knocking at our doors instead. That would be a backwards step.
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They come so frequently Cyril they do not need to knock the door. Leave your scrap as normal and it will soon disappear..no horns needed. How many people go rushing out with an old piece of junk anyway? Most people please it on the drive and wait for it to be taken.
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I dont mind a human being blowing a bugle or a trumpet as he works the streets looking for scrap. What is the problem in Rugeley that Tatters have recorded Bugle sounds and play them in a continuous loop through a Public Address system.
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well said , totally agree .
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Totally agree. The noise became a wide-scale menace because traditional methods were cast aside in favor of anti-social behaviour. Several times a week we have had this menace trawling through Tipton’s streets, lasting for a considerable amount of time. You can hear it from afar. There are those scrap men who use moderation and rarely cause any inconvenience with their system – it’s those people I feel genuinely sorry for.
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It’s not the tatters who announce their arrival with a bugle that I worry about. It’s the one’s that sneak around unannounced, and check out your driveways uninvited helping themselves without permission. At least a bugle lets you know they are there and you can keep an eye out!
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It would be nice to keep traditions going but I have a scrap man in my street daily and possibly 2 or 3 times on a weekend and the noise is unbearable and if they’re not blowing a horn which sounds like a wild animal in distress then they’re sounding there horn on the wagons, they need neither because they’re loud enough in the vocal regions anyway
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Thank god I am so so pleased! They are a nightmare by us, I work shifts and I found the noise unbearable.
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Carl Chinns comments are true, but the problem is that it isnt the case of one tatter on a sunday afternoon anymore. It is more likely 3 or 4 times a day, either a bugle or a taped recording of one which is even worse. With people at home with young families or shift workers it just isnt acceptable. It is NOISE POLLUTION. Would Carl Chinn like someone blowing a bugle outside his house throughout the night whilst he sleeps? No didnt think so.
If the price of scrap dropped they would all dispear anyway.
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how utterly stupid !
how long do you hear the budle ? 3mins 4mins at the most . people who moaned to have these banned are going to regret it when their streets are full of washers , radiators ect , and they’ll have no-one to blame but themselves . what stupidity .
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never heard of a council tip
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Kelly, it’s not just for minutes and it’s not just once a week. Weekends were worse, and once awoken you had to endure this hell for a considerable amount of time, as the driver went through every single street for miles around.
Now, we’ve seen a problem acknowledged, and addressed..how about dealing with the boy racer mentality in Tipton, who use incessantly-loud exhaust systems? This is just as bad as if not worse than the automated bugle..again, a complete and selfish disregard for people’s privacy.
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just hope wolverhampton council now follows suit,we have rag and bone men come around about 6 times aday .
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its not the noise itself that is annoying, its when they play the noise at half 8 on a sunday morning that annoys me!!
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Another rule to be enforced by a dwindling number of enforcers.
Personally I think the honest ones provide a good service.
I’d rather then council spent time getting the innumerable illegally modified, boy racing , largely uninsured and badly driven cars off the road.
Some of the tatters are noisy, I can live with that.
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We have a few coming by us (in Sedgley) but they did us a huge favour by taking away a load of stuff we had. The noise is annoying and sounds like a broken trumpet but I would rather know they were coming so I could make good use of them instead of paying the council money to take stuff away or going to the tip!
We even have a tat man who plays the “any old iron” song. Quite amusing I think!!
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These guys have been a complete menice this year, they start as early as 7am even on a Sunday and I have heard as many as 8 in the area at the same time when its busy at the weekend. They are supposed to be licenced but many are not.
During weekends in the summer it is not a case of only hearing a horn for a few mins, more like trying to find a few mins of time when you cant hear one if not several.
Hurry up and ban them in Wolves so we can get some peace and enjoy our homes we work so hard for.
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why moan about tatters horns when ice scream vans do the same everyone has to earn a living
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If you also look in the picture, the traditional methods rely on a slow-moving horse. If anything, that’s got more chance of creating a nuisance in my eyes..but it didn’t. Why? Moderation, and mutual respect. Today, when I routinely see idiotic, selfish and seemingly dangerous boy racer types screaming along roads the back of Tipton police station, I ask myself: where has that mutual respect gone? You cannot fail to notice this noise, either..it’s just as loud as the automated bugle. Bring back the old way – and do something about these damn exhaust systems.
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