Crackdown on noise of scrap men

Councils are cracking down on scrap metal dealers who blast out loud horns and trumpets while on their collection rounds.

Stafford Borough and Cannock Chase council chiefs have successfully prosecuted three individuals.

The authorities have dished out more than £2,000 in costs and fines to deter scrap metal dealers from resorting to the same tactics in future.

It follows a string of complaints to the councils from residents – particularly those who work late-night shifts and are required to sleep during the day.

Michael Garner, of Fairway Green, Bilston, John Haskett, of Bassett Road, Wednesbury, and Michael Wood, of Cornmill Close, Walsall, were all prosecuted for offences. The first two took place in Stafford while Wood's offences were in multiple locations across Staffordshire.

The court heard how Mr Garner – who was issued a guilty plea by post – was driving along Morton Road, in Burton Manor, Stafford last October and used a horn in his white transit van to alert residents to his scrap metal business.

The court slapped a £200 fine on him along with costs of £210 and a victim surcharge of £15.

Mr Haskett also pleaded guilty to a similar offence in Astoria Drive, Rising Brook, in Stafford last November where he used a trumpet and a loudspeaker to broadcast his visit and was fined £200 as well as being ordered to pay £370 in costs and a £15 victim surcharge.

In mitigation, Mr Haskett said he did not realise it was an offence to blow a horn.

A fine of £800 was given to Wood along with an order to pay £550 costs and a £15 victim surcharge for his off-ences committed in September and October last year.

Last October, scrap metal dealer Darren Davies was fined £130 after playing a horn through his loudspeaker in Doxey. It was the first prosecution of its kind in Stafford.