A TRAIN company could be fined £1,000 for disturbing people by leaving the engines running through the night.

An environmental health boss at Worcester City Council said the noise of the trains at Kennet Green near Shrub Hill station in Worcester is “unacceptable” following a late night visit to the cul-de-sac.

An officer from the council visited people living in the area during the early hours of Tuesday morning following complaints.

Stationary trains have been parked opposite Kennet Green with their loud engines rumbling between midnight and 5am on weekdays for the last two months.

A letter of complaint from a resident has already been sent to First Great Western customer services about the noise from the trains used for the Worcester to London Paddington service.

Martin Gillies, the environmental health manager at the city council, said: “First Great Western are saying that by keeping the engines running it’s providing heating and lighting and that the engine is difficult to start if left off for more than a few hours. That’s unacceptable.

“Unless it can be resolved informally, we will be serving a statutory abatement notice. That will require them to stop the noise nuisance.

“With them being a commercial operation, they face an unlimited fine. Initially, it’s £1,000. If they break the notice we would appeal to magistrates for an abatement order. That would be a direction from the court that they need to comply with the requirements of that order.”

Meanwhile, your Worcester News spoke to several people affected, some of whom plan to organise a petition unless something is done about the noise.

Lyn Soave, aged 56, of Kennet Green, said: “There’s a train parked all night, running its engines. It is causing sleepless nights. It has been happening for at least a couple of months. We moved near a railway knowing the problem existed but you don’t expect trains to run all night.”

Linda Collins, 59, said: “It’s terrible. It keeps me awake. I asked First Great Western to move the train to sidings away from our houses but nobody rang me back.”

Annette Williams, 50, said: “It’s all lit up and the engine is going all night. It’s a constant, low rumbling. In summer you can’t have your windows open because of the noise.”

Alison Miles, 43, said: “We have been told the train engine is kept running so they are able to start it in the morning. It can’t be good for the environment. ”

A spokesman for First Great Western declined to confirm if more trains would be parked overnight opposite Kennet Green in future, as some people claimed.

She said: “We leave one of two engines running on this train overnight to generate power so it can be cleaned and made ready for service the following morning. We know this has caused some noise problems with residents and are looking at how we can minimise this as much as possible.”

An informal meeting is due to take place with bosses at FGW this week.