Well I just have to have a mini rant (and also score a hat trick on the posts!) just got back from the MOT station / bottomless pit for throwing money into, pulled into the house, went inside and back out with my mot fail slip to examine the car and some old (ish) lady comes up to me and states she has had three (count them) complaints about the noise I make when driving into the area. Apparently people who work nights are complaining.

Now I apologised and said I would try and be quieter, but I also said that it has just had a mot and wasn't deemed to loud (don’t even think its part of the test) and that it is 2:30 in the afternoon.

im not out to annoy people but I do think its a bit cheeky for people to complain about being loud at 2:30 in the afternoon, surely people get paid more to work nights due to the fact its inconvenient? ive got to go and wire in a horn now as well, don’t think that’s going to go down well as I like to test things thoroughly

[Edited on 22/9/09 by 55ant]

I try and be super quiet when entering the slip road near my garage as although I love my car exhaust note I doubt other people do (in fact I know rather grumpy old geezer def doesn't...)...

People love to complain, I've known people move to the country from the city, buy a nice big farmhouse next to a working farm and then complain to the farmer that the place smells of dung!

Just ignore them!

I think some people just like complaining - they would be even more miserable if you drive quietly!

I say drive by with the can off and make their day

haha beat me to it

quote:

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Originally posted by tomprescott
People love to complain, I've known people move to the country from the city, buy a nice big farmhouse next to a working farm and then complain to the farmer that the place smells of dung!

Just ignore them!

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quote:

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Originally posted by cadebytiger
haha beat me to it

quote:

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Originally posted by tomprescott
People love to complain, I've known people move to the country from the city, buy a nice big farmhouse next to a working farm and then complain to the farmer that the place smells of dung!

Just ignore them!

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Inform the police that you are being harrassed, then see how many have actually complaind, it's probably just the old dear having a bad day.

cheers guys, im not to fussed but you never know when people are having a bad day or pee'd of enough to vandalise etc.

im going to ask here as i think three posts in a couple of hours is a bit much!

im in need of a lower ball joint nearside for a seira upright, also an ofside steering arm rubber, best place for these?

Reminds me of the time that I borrowed a trailer and moved it very early in the morning from my drive to the curb-side to enable an easy exit.

Some arse of a neighbour tried to tell me that it was illegally parked (probably, but for two hours only) and importantly that Mrs Jones had walked into it the night before. Funny, as it was on my drive. He never ever looked at me again once I'd explained that I knew he was lying.

the coffin dodgers down my road are always moaning about me and i hardly use my indy as i'm always at work.

i did remove the silencer from the mower though just to make as much noise as i could.

i vote you have a BBQ garden party and we'll all come in our kit cars

[Edited on 22/9/09 by graememk]

My brother in law used to be a councillor. In his patch were a lot of retired people, many of whom would complain to him about little things on a weekly basis. People with too much spare time will complain about anything. If you feel you are being careful about noise, ignore them.

quote:

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Originally posted by graememk

i vote you have a BBQ garden party and we'll all come in our kit cars

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if i had a bbq i would tell you guys roughly where i live so you can spend a good half hour driving round nice and loud looking for me house!

My neighbours complain too. Plus one of our neighbours opposite was walking her dog one day as I drove past. She stopped, watched as I drive past shaking her head. Again doing nothing wrong.....

About everything. Grumpy old farts with nothing better to do!

Started my car up once, after doing some major work, just to check it out. Was running all of 30 secs and they complained. Was only ticking over as well.

Sure I will be even more popular once the supercharger is fitted!

The fact is though, I am very careful about trying not to upset them. I go out of my way to drive gently up and down our road, making as little noise as poss.

I got to the point at one stage of saying call the police if they were that bothered. The cops wont give a damn if you are making noise at a reasonable time (deemed 7am to 10:30pm) as long as its not consistently. Even more so as its not a police matter, the council have to deal with it. I know my car is within the legal noise limit, so have no worries about people complaining about it! I also know that I dont speed down my road or drive untaxed or insured, so they cant have me for that either.

Its just the hassle more than anything.

house warming bbq at flaks place aswell then. its going to be a summer of many bbq's.

Ignor them,
I occaisionally work nights and noise from outside isn't something that keeps you up, its the sun more than anything.

I hear people in the street all the time with motorcycles and cars and even just people shouting, but in the day its just something you have to put up with.

I sometimes drive the XJ up and down the road at 6am on a sunday (an afterwork treat) and noones ever said anything. (Except one time one some told me I'd woken them up with it but I hadn't even started it, had to push it forward to get my car in).

I had the police round twice whilst i was building mine. I know who called them, it was a new neighbour who moved in. young girl.

strange thing is the neighbour nextdorr has a baby, and he thinks it's great, no complaints from them!

Bit that made me smile was when the copper turn up first time he said

" we had reports of someone driving illegally on the road"

he wasn't sure what to do when i pointed out it had no vin plate or reg number, and that my road was not adopted by the council and still registered as private.

i'm biding my time but i have a plan to get her back, involving writing a rude word in her front lawn in cress seeds. when it gets cut it'll stand out bright white.....

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i'm biding my time but i have a plan to get her back, involving writing a rude word in her front lawn in cress seeds. when it gets cut it'll stand out bright white.....

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weed killer or snow drop bulbs.

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Ben_Copeland - 22/9/09 at 03:59 PM

So far... touch wood. Nobody in my road has complained. Then mines not that loud... although my wife has said she can hear me coming from a mile away

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nib1980 - 22/9/09 at 04:00 PM

quote:

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Originally posted by graememk

quote:

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i'm biding my time but i have a plan to get her back, involving writing a rude word in her front lawn in cress seeds. when it gets cut it'll stand out bright white.....

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weed killer or snow drop bulbs.

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yeah but with cress you don't see it till you cut the grass, and the only way to get it out is to dig it up

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graememk - 22/9/09 at 04:02 PM

snow drops come through every spring lol

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MikeRJ - 22/9/09 at 04:04 PM

quote:

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Originally posted by 55ant
some old (ish) lady comes up to me and states she has had three (count them) complaints about the noise I make when driving into the area.

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Why would these alleged people go to her to complain about the excessive noise you are allegedly making? I'd call her bluff, ask for the names of these people as you want to go and speak to them about it.

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x_flow57 - 22/9/09 at 04:34 PM

Next door to me are always complaining , for example they constantly complain that we don't look after the garden enough and then they called the authorities when I was strimming it at 2.00pm on a weekday. You ought to hear them moan when both our kits are started together to go out.
Add me to the list of places to come for a "wind the neighbours up" bbq.

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SeaBass - 22/9/09 at 04:37 PM

As always with these things it's best to smile politely and take it on the chin.
I've luckily never had any noise complaints even when my tintop exhaust was just about hanging off waiting for parts and weather to fix it. I don't gun it anywhere near my house though and keep testing to a minimum on the drive.
I do regularly get complaints when parking at a mates house in a pull in off the main road. His neighbours park on the pavement and use the pull in as access to the pavement. They frequently tell me I can't park in the pull to which I thank them and tell them they can't park on the pavement.
I find the best technique is to appear to relax and get even calmer when confronted it's amusing to see people wind themselves up by not annoying you.

JC

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zilspeed - 22/9/09 at 04:57 PM

quote:

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Originally posted by MikeRJ

quote:

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Originally posted by 55ant
some old (ish) lady comes up to me and states she has had three (count them) complaints about the noise I make when driving into the area.

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Why would these alleged people go to her to complain about the excessive noise you are allegedly making? I'd call her bluff, ask for the names of these people as you want to go and speak to them about it.

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That's pretty much what I would want to do.
"Give me their names and I'll go and speak to them, after all none of us need a situation festering away, so let's sort it out."
She's talking nonsense.

As I've said before, I go out of my way to avoid causing grief, but so far I have had no trouble at all no matter how much noise I think I've made.

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Blackcab - 22/9/09 at 05:12 PM

My neighbours hate me anyway so I make as much noise as i feel appropriate bearing in mind I have 2 young kids - I had an issue a year or 2 ago when I had my quad ( road legal ) and they put in a complaint, we live on a main bus route circa 30 buses per day .... turns out the quad was the same noise as the buses ...... they havent spoke to me since .
Some people will just moan about everything .. I say live life, have fun, be yourself and stick 2 fingers up at people who envy your position and will try and make life difficult

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martyn_16v - 22/9/09 at 05:25 PM

If they don't like it the neighbourly thing to do would be to take up a different hobby. I heartily recommend learning the bagpipes

And remember, practice makes perfect

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x_flow57 - 22/9/09 at 05:37 PM

quote:

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Originally posted by martyn_16v
If they don't like it the neighbourly thing to do would be to take up a different hobby. I heartily recommend learning the bagpipes

And remember, practice makes perfect

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Tried that youngest son has taken up the drums, things don't seem to be getting any better.

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morcus - 22/9/09 at 06:11 PM

Whats best is to get an electric instrument and wire it up through a Home cinema system or a huge amp, I did this at a mates house once and the whole house shook.

If you really want some fun, wait till you notice her doing something then go round and complain and say that other people have as well.

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David Jenkins - 22/9/09 at 06:20 PM

My retired neighbours come round for a chat when my car's on the drive!

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mangogrooveworkshop - 22/9/09 at 06:44 PM

My moaning neighbors gave up after 7 years.......

They moaned at the quad
they moaned at the garden renovations
they moaned about the pickup truck
they moaned about the fence that blew down
the car is another thing they had a real tizzy bout...
they have moaned so much Ive lost count of the number of times they moaned.......

Eventually they gave up we we finished the brick paving and the front garden...and they had to say it was fantastic


The 10 other neighbours in the street are fantastic just one set of numptys to keep the balance

[Edited on 22-9-09 by mangogrooveworkshop]

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Ninehigh - 23/9/09 at 12:32 AM

quote:

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Originally posted by 55ant
surely people get paid more to work nights due to the fact its inconvenient?

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No we don't!

My neigbour has complained about cat poo in their garden, not to me of course otherwise I'd have pointed out that 1. there's about 20 cats round here and 2. his garden is basically a giant litterbox.

Then cat poo started appearing in strange places, like on the grass (where cats won't go) and on my car. Mind you since I flicked some back over and it landed on his front door that's stopped too...

Couldn't give a sh**e about grief with the neighbours, last big argument I told them they could do worse than a family that's generally quiet and reasonably tidy!

Oh yeah there was a complaint about the smoke that came from one of the taxis I was hiring. I told him to come back and see how well his car starts on a cold morning when it's got 235k miles on it, he shut up

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owelly - 23/9/09 at 04:02 PM

As a shift worker, I work nights. It's my fault for working unsocialble hours so I don't get upset by the constant drone of lawnmowers all summer, the buses driving past every 15minutes, the cars and bike blasting through the village, and likewise when I'm coming home at stupid-o'clock in the morning, I try to be considerate and quiet. But you still get folks complaining about things. Anything. I had the local parish council on my case about having my boat parked out on the road. They called the police several times. The BiB turned-up, checked that the trailer was legal, had lights and reflectors and was pointing the right way, and siad there was no problem. The boat was there perhaps 6 times a year when I brought it home to use the next day etc.

If you feel you're been reasonable, then just nod politely and ignore them.

And for whoever it was that mentioned driving a car on unadopted roads, that's not correct. The road traffic act applies to 'public places'. Unless there is a gate across the 'private' or 'unadopted' road, then it is a public place and you need to be legal.

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mistergrumpy - 23/9/09 at 04:16 PM

^Very good and there's the fact that you could still get a S.59 warning too. Basically driving in a manner that has caused alarm or distress.
I keep the peace with my neighbours as much as possible and don't really have a bad one. It doesn't mean some are not a pain like next door but one who gets picked up at 7 every morning and leaves the van door open with music blasting and then stands outside it talking when he may as well jump inside it or the never ending cat poo that I DO know where's coming from as the cat's always sneaking in my garden but I just shovel it and "teach" the cat whenever I can.
I was brought up with good neighbours when I was small then we moved and my dad never got on with anyone and we regularly had confrontations and he still does and having left all that and seeing that he's still at it, I just can't be arsed. If someone has a complaint I just discuss it and see when it's best suitable for me to do my grinding or whatever and explain how long it'll take.
A nice compromise for people that I'd probably not speak to again and can't be bothered with.
ETA I work nights, days the lot and don't get paid any extra either. My younger brother who is 26 works 9-5 in an office gets a lot more than me.

[Edited on 23/9/09 by mistergrumpy]

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