TRANSPORT bosses have been blasted by an angry resident who claims they abused the rights of householders with excessive noise.

Road surface repairs were carried out during the night around Marlow from the start of September to avoid interfering with daytime traffic.

But residents of Chapel Street had to put up with drilling and vehicle noise late into the night, on more than one occasion until 3am, says husband and father of four James Whelpton.

Prior notice was given about the works.

But the information failed to warn residents of the noise they would have to endure, Mr Whelpton said.

The resurfacing work has now finished, a week ahead of schedule.

Mr Whelpton, 43, felt finishing the project early appeared to have been prioritised over meeting regulations and keeping reasonable hours.

Chapel Street resident Mr Whelpton, who was kept awake by the noise, spoke to the contracted workers who said they had written permission to continue their work after 11pm.

He complained to transport authority Buckinghamshire County Council, which assured him noise levels would be kept to 80dB after 11pm.

The World Health Organisation recommends noise levels of up to only 35dB for uninterrupted sleep.

The furious householder claimed workers had flouted noise regulations, which had affected his ability to work.

He said: “It looks as though the rights and needs of central Marlow residents have been abused by late and excessively noisy working practices.”

In a letter responding to him, Kate Rolfe, spokesman for BCC, apologised for the inconvenience the works caused.

Working at night reduced costs and completion time, she said, adding while BCC endeavours to finish its noisiest work by 11pm, this is not always possible.

After investigating ways to solve the problem for future BCC is changing its contracts so that equipment used to do such work will be fitted with an innovative piece of 'white noise' equipment to reduce noise pollution.