A KEIGHLEY resident says early morning noise from a neighbouring clamp-making firm is making his and his neighbours’ lives a misery.

Robert Bailey, of Pope Street, said he had complained to the company involved, Teconnex, which is based in Chesham Street, but claims nothing has been done to tackle the issue.

“It’s anti-social and it’s getting ridiculous,” he said. “We have another business nearby and they are great neighbours, but with Teconnex it’s just been getting worse for the past four months.”

However, Steven Pollard, Teconnex’s director of manufacturing, said the firm took any complaints from members of the public very seriously, and was always prepared to identify the source of problems and minimise their impact.

He added: “We’re quite a large company, employing about 400 people, and we’ve grown during the past couple of years, but we do recognise we’re a manufacturing business based close to people’s homes.”

Mr Bailey, 58, said he had lived in Pope Street, which is at the back of of Teconnex’s premises, for three years. He worked as a bus driving instructor, but retired due to ill health.

“On one Sunday morning a couple of weeks ago, they were emptying pieces of metal into skips at 6.15am,” he said. “It made a right racket.”

“This sort of thing, at about the same time in the morning, happens two or three times a week, and it wakes us up.

“I’ve complained to Teconnex, I’ve been round and I’ve also phoned them, but they don’t do anything about it. They’re not interested; they don’t want to know.”

Mr Pollard this week responded: “We don’t run a third shift. We only have a skeleton staff of four or five people on duty at night, and that decision was taken in the interests of local residents.

“Through the night we only maintain a small crew to run our automated processes, not the noisier processes.

“We did some trials on July 28 where we operated with the roof vents shut and all the doors closed to see if that has a positive impact on local residents, and we’re waiting for the results of those trials to come back.”

He added that as this is a time of year when many people sleep with their windows open, there is more potential for disturbance.

He also highlighted the fact Teconnex stopped skip wagon operations and deliveries to its premises before 7.30am, so he will investigate Mr Bailey’s claims.