Noise issue at night

LirW

Hello,

I live in a rural council estate, I own my house privately.
A few weeks ago a new tenant, a young single mother, moved into an apartment in one of the houses (two houses here are split into 2 apartments each).
Generally she's not really a troublesome person and her whole family, that's quite big is a pretty friendly trades/handyman clan.
The problem lies with one of her brothers though, him and his girlfriend are both alcoholics and he tends to be troublesome, has a small time criminal reputation, like nicking tools etc.

Shortly after she moved here her brother started to visit her late at night and this is where the problem lies: they park their quite big cars and leave them running while parking - for hours. It seems sometimes one or two people are just sitting in it for a while, leave the lights on and the engine running, probably for heating. This is quite noisy and very irritating. The first night it happened I wasn't sure if there's someone breaking in in another house.
Now I know what it is, it doesn't make it less annoying though. It wouldn't be a problem if it's just for a few minutes.

Another neighbor, who's right beside her can't sleep because she generally has a light sleep and the car humming started to wake her kids, so others are equally annoyed.

Today the subject was broached to her again and she gets very defensive, she generally wants to avoid trouble but one of her other brothers stepped in to defend her, all via text. The neighbour got quite angry because it happened at least a dozen times in the last few weeks, she obviously can't get her relatives to turn the car off like a normal person and leave the residents in peace.

What's the next step? Reporting it to the council that the visitors leave the car running hours at night? Call the guards when it happens again?

It's equally irritating and noisy since it's so quiet here, especially at night. Last night it ran from 3-6am. Sometimes from 1-3 am.
I don't think we're being unreasonable here, we have a neighbour that works in the local pub and gets dropped off quite often at night, that's fine, but it doesn't go for hours.

seamus

That's very odd behaviour. Are they dealing drugs?

What possible reason could there be for sitting in the car for hours in the middle of the night outside the house.

I'd be inclined to call the Gardai when they do it. Tell the Gardai that they've parked outside for hours with the engine running, suspicious behaviour, etc.

Middle of the night, midweek, the lads on patrol would be delighted for a bit of action.

Another option might be to put a large spotlight or a CCTV camera on the front of your house, "accidentally" pointing towards the spots where they park.

afkasurfjunkie

Is it not a massive waste of fuel to leave an engine going for 3 hours?

Borderfox

Ring the gardai

punisher5112

That's either a brothel or drug dealers meeting up.

Normal folk don't sit outside a house or apartment with engines running for hours.

LirW

seamus wrote: »

That's very odd behaviour. Are they dealing drugs?

What possible reason could there be for sitting in the car for hours in the middle of the night outside the house.

I'd be inclined to call the Gardai when they do it. Tell the Gardai that they've parked outside for hours with the engine running, suspicious behaviour, etc.

Middle of the night, midweek, the lads on patrol would be delighted for a bit of action.

Another option might be to put a large spotlight or a CCTV camera on the front of your house, "accidentally" pointing towards the spots where they park.

My house is a bit too far away to "accidentally" point the CCTV there without being obvious but the direct neighbour has one.

I've never thought about dealing, now there aren't cars going in and out of the estate but there would be a possibility to park down at the main road and go up the hill directly to the car.
Never seen anything like it though.

It is a massive waste of fuel, it makes literally no sense why anyone would do this, it's very odd.

10-10-20

It's illegal, since 1934, to leave the engine running in a public space.
http://www.irishstatutebook.ie/eli/1934/sro/150/made/en/print
There is no provision for 'keeping warm', but they could claim to to be for an ancillary purpose.

64 Stopping of engine when vehicle is stationary

64. The driver of every vehicle shall, when the vehicle is stationary otherwise than through enforced stoppage owing to the necessities of traffic, stop the action of any machinery attached to, or forming part of, such vehicle, so far as may be necessary for the prevention of noise:

Provided that this regulation shall not apply so as to prevent the examination or working of the machinery attached to or forming part of, a vehicle where any such examination or working is rendered necessary by any failure or derangement of the said machinery or where the engine of the vehicle is required to be worked for some ancillary purpose.

Car expert

Start making noise early in the morning. Play Daniel o Donnell music loud, Dana etc.

Wheres Me Jumper?

they sound like a right pair of morons.
if they are drunk or drinking alcohol while sitting in the car, the driver is breaking the law, if parked in a public place.

call the gardaí. you shouldn't have to tolerate these idiots.

Doop

I wouldn't be calling the guards to report people leaving their cars running, I would phone as mentioned to report suspicious behavior.

I really dont see the point in the cctv what will that achieve? proof that they are sitting in their car?

Wheres Me Jumper?

Car expert wrote: »

Start making noise early in the morning. Play Daniel o Donnell music loud, Dana etc.

we had a few living next door to us like that. Eastern European alcos. construction workers. weekends consisted of late night music, raised voices and then come 7am total silence.

i bought the biggest loudest stereo i could get and would put Meatloaf "Bat out of Hell" on loop & on full volume of a Sat & Sun morning and then head over to friends/family for the entire day. also any music with a loud bass is very effective, especially if you lay one of the speakers face down on an upstairs floor.

this was especially effective on Sundays when they were "recovering" for the week ahead.

after a few ugly stares across the garden hedges, they left a couple of weeks afterward.

LirW

Thanks for all the advice.
I rang the local Garda station last night and told them what was going on and the guard told me to just ring back when it happens again and they'll send someone out to have a look.
They also said the residents should file a complaint for anti-social behaviour with the council.

seamus

Doop wrote: »

I wouldn't be calling the guards to report people leaving their cars running, I would phone as mentioned to report suspicious behavior.

I really dont see the point in the cctv what will that achieve? proof that they are sitting in their car?

The kind of people who sit in running vehicles in the middle of the night, are the kind of people who do not want to have cameras watching what they're doing in that car.

Wheres Me Jumper?

LirW wrote: »

Thanks for all the advice.
I rang the local Garda station last night and told them what was going on and the guard told me to just ring back when it happens again and they'll send someone out to have a look.
They also said the residents should file a complaint for anti-social behaviour with the council.

`

well done. it's because these morons are never challenged, that they get away with this type of idiotic behavior.