Noisy ducks man fined

A man has been ordered to pay £270 over his noisy ducks following a year-long dispute with neighbours. Christopher Hunt, from Whitchurch in Cardiff, pleaded guilty last week to breaching a noise abatement notice after a year-long dispute with neighbours over his noisy feathered friends. Cardiff Council said its noise pollution team first contacted Hunt in August 2011 following a complaint about the noise made by 12 ducks, and their owner reassured officers that the birds would be removed.

But in September last year, officers went to see Hunt again after more complaints. They monitored the noise made by the ducks, and decided to serve Hunt with an abatement notice requiring him to put a stop to the nuisance caused by their quacking. Noise monitoring equipment was put in the Hunt home, but the nuisance continued and he was sent letters telling him he was committing an offence three times between March and May this year.



The council said it was eventually left “with little option but to seek [the] prosecution” of Mr Hunt, who pleaded guilty to the breaches at Cardiff Magistrates Court on September 4. He was fined £135, ordered to pay costs of £120, and a victim surcharge of £15. Hunt told the court he now only has three ducks at his home. Following the case, the chair of Cardiff’s public protection committee Councillor Derrick Morgan said: “It is important that all residents are able to enjoy their home life without the intrusion of nuisance noise.

“This prosecution shows that the council will act and seek prosecution where people’s lives are being made a misery by inconsiderate neighbours. We have many ongoing cases involving nuisance noise and the obvious advice is take notice of the original complaints and act accordingly. What is acceptable to one resident does not mean it is acceptable to the majority. We have a duty to prosecute but would rather work with the resident to resolve the nuisance before doing so.”