Bothered by Noisy Station Announcements?

---

A member of the London Assembly would like to hear from you

I am trying to tackle a fiendishly complicated problem in my West Central constituency concerning noisy tube station announcements and I am wondering if this is in fact an issue for many more Londoners beyond my own patch. Let me explain:

For nearly a year now I have been struggling, along with local councillors, to find a solution to noisy station announcements coming out of the PA system at Earls Court Underground Station.

There seems to be a similar problem at Putney Bridge, which is also in my constituency. What these stations have in common is that they have just undergone refurbishment and both sit in the middle of residential communities. The noise problem seems to have got considerably worse since these refurbishments , and despite endless attempts at resetting the volume controls at Earls Court, the local residents are still experiencing what amounts to noise torture, and at frequent intervals.

The situation is compounded by Health and Safety rules which apparently require endless announcements well into the night , and in the early hours of the morning too. The failure of both London Underground and local Environmental Health Officers to find a solution has proved so frustrating that both the Mayor, Mr. Livingstone and his London Underground chief, Tim O'Toole, have agreed to visit Earls Court station, with myself, to witness the problem firsthand, and to discuss ways of tackling it . This shall be happening in the next couple of months.

But it occurs to me, in the meantime, that this problem may not be unique to Earls Court and Putney Bridge. It could well exist at other sites across London, proving especially irksome to those residents who live in close proximity to busy stations. Therefore, I would welcome the chance to hear from any readers who have had similar experiences of abnormally loud tannoy systems, in order that I may enlighten the Mayor as to the extent of this problem, and to seek out a solution.

If you have been affected by excessive noise pollution from station announcements, please feel free to email me the details at the address shown, or alternatively write to me at City Hall.

Angie Bray AM

August 25, 2006