A fed-up man is going to bed in his kitchen in a bid to get a good night’s sleep after an increase in traffic noise resulting from roadworks at a busy junction near his home in Chelsea .
The 38-year-old, who has asked not to be named, lives on the fifth floor of flats on King’s Road overlooking the junction with Gunter Grove.
He says the sounds of car horns and engines revving has risen so much since the National Grid started its essential gas mains replacement programme that he is often unable to sleep in his bedroom, which overlooks the junction, and forced to move to his kitchen, where he is disturbed slightly less.
He has complained to both Kensington and Chelsea Council and electric power transmission network but says both are telling him to contact the other.
He said: “I’ve lived here for two years and it’s quite a noisy junction but I’ve not had a problem before. But since National Grid started its work the traffic noise - mainly horns and cars revving their engines - has gone overboard.”
He has even recorded the scene at the junction from his flat, and says the loud traffic noise goes on well after midnight.
The unhappy resident continued: "This is interfering with my private life. Right now I can’t catch any sleep. I have to use ear plugs and I’ve bought a white noise machine.
“It’s constant, the noise keeps me awake at 1am and 2am, it’s basically got to the point where I go sleep in my kitchen.
“I’m not complaining about the road works or that there’s noise outside, but when it starts to come into my bedroom it’s a completely different story.
“When summer comes I won’t be able to open my windows even slightly because of this, and I live on the fifth floor - I can’t imagine what it must be like for people living on the ground floor.”
A National Grid held a public exhibition to explain to those affected what would be happening in the area . A spokesperson said the work being carried out was essential to ensure the local area keeps on enjoying safe and reliable gas supplies.
He said: “We’ve worked together to carefully plan the road and bus route diversions needed to do our work safely and efficiently and local businesses will remain open as usual throughout the work, the local community have also been kept informed of the work.”
A spokesperson for the council said: “While all complaints about noise and disturbance are taken seriously we do not always have the statutory powers to intervene. We have received complaints about sirens from emergency vehicles but these are exempt from the legislation.
“We are satisfied that, to date, noise emanating directly from the works is being properly controlled and managed.”
The project is due for completion in September 2016.
In January the same junction was gridlocked when a van flipped on its side.
