A NOISY shop freezer is causing a Malvern man to fear for the health of his pregnant girlfriend.

Mark Price, who lives in a flat above the Co-op in Upper Howsell Road, said he and his girlfriend Beth Hayes, who is 27 weeks pregnant, have been unable to sleep since the shop installed an industrial freezer below their bedroom last Thursday.

Mr Price said the noise had been almost continuous since it was fitted.

"It sounds like a jet engine and it's impossible to sleep," he said.

Mr Price is concerned that the situation may affect his girlfriend, who previously lost a baby through stress.

He said: "My girlfriend is more important to me than anything and having this baby is even more important. If anything happens to it, I don't know what I'd do.

"They have moved the freezer to the other side of the shop now, but it hasn't done much. There's just a constant buzz."

Ms Hayes said: "It's like a lorry in the room below running all night - it just doesn't stop. It used to be peace and quiet when you tried to sleep, but now the whole flat is buzzing with sound."

Mr Price said his girlfriend had even had to cancel a job interview this week because she had missed so much sleep.

She has told him that if it continues she will have to move out of the flat, where the couple has lived for the last four years.

When Mr Price said that when he raised his concerns with the shop, he was told another 12 freezers were due to arrive and nothing could be done.

A Co-op spokeswoman said an environmental health officer visited the flat and reported noise levels to be within regulations. However, she agreed the new freezers, which were intended to be quieter than the ones they replaced, would be checked again by environmental health officers once the refurbishment was complete.