Scarborough resident: 'My deaf husband can hear train depot noise'
A resident in Scarborough says she has submitted 84 pages of complaints about the noise coming from the town's train depot.
A resident in Scarborough has been talking about how she has been affected by the noise coming from the train depot.
We told you yesterday that many people have been having disrupted sleep for more than a year now due to the Seamer Road facility.
RELATED STORIES: Scarborough train depot noises still disturbing residents a year on
Sue Rawson, 73, says she and her husband, who is deaf, are kept awake during the night and in the early mornings.
She said:
"We're kept awake at night from before 11 until after 1 o'clock at the worst. We hear the occasional clank and hiss during the night and then of course they start up in the morning. The first train they get ready at 4.50am.
"At the moment TransPennine are making it impossible for me to sleep. I feel tired all the time and I'm getting about if you're lucky five, five and a half hours sleep a night, six nights a week. It has an affect on you.
"I do not get an uninterrupted nights sleep and I haven't since before I complained on the 7th of January 2020. I've been complaining for 14 months now to TransPennine.
"I have sent 84 pages of complaints and detailed logs to Scarborough Borough Council. I also use their noise nuisance app to record the noise and send comments. I added that up and I've actually sent 389 from the 14th of April.
"We are 25 metres above the depot but at 320 metres away, so the noise from the trains just broadcasts up the valley sides and along the valley. I think of it as being rather like a roman theatre with tiered seats going up.
"They think that the noise baffles that they've put up in the depot are sufficient and they've only put a few low barriers up on the western side of the depot, they've put absolutely nothing on our side, the eastern side.
"If my husband, who's nearly 80 and is deaf, can hear the trains from 320 metres away at night and early in the morning, behind double glazing and the window shut, there's something wrong."
Sue says Scarborough Borough Council have been supportive ever since her first complaint.
Paul Staples, Fleet Director for TransPennine Express commented:
"We take the concerns of local residents very seriously regarding noise emitted from our train depot and are doing all we can to minimise the inconvenience caused while also providing a vital train service.
"Over the last 12 months, a huge amount of work has been undertaken to try and find ways of reducing the amount of engine noise and we would dearly liked to have reached a solution sooner, but the restrictions of the Covid-19 lockdown delayed a lot of the investigative work and measurement we needed to do.
"It is essential that we have a train depot in Scarborough, as this allows us to run our Nova trains in and out of the town, but we are absolutely committed to seeing this through, working closely with Scarborough Borough Council to find an answer that works for everyone."