West Sussex village up in arms over alarm blasting out 'night and day'

The residents – in Broadbridge Heath near Horsham – say the noise is heard all over the village and has been going on for months. They say it’s ‘really annoying’ – irritating during the day and causing many to lose sleep at night.

Many have puzzled over exactly where the noise was emanating but it has now been established that the alarm is being sounded at the village’s Tesco Extra supermarket. It has been fitted to a gate at the supermarket premises to alert people when the gate is being operated.

Local resident Gary Chester said: “It goes off night and day causing irritation and disturbed sleep to local residents.” He said he had reported the problem to Tesco and added: “Yesterday it was sounding at 7am when I took my dogs for a walk and continued whilst I was working outside until I went in at about 2 pm. I again reported it as it was repeatedly going off, often sounding for over 20 minutes at a time, and clearly audible over the traffic noise from the A24.

“Apparently it is a health and safety alarm for when the gate opens/closes and will remain. If this is the case, why does it continue to sound for long periods and why does it need to be so loud that it can be heard so far from the store?”

Many residents have taken to social media to complain about the noise. One said: “We live half a mile away from it and it wakes us up all through the night, every night and it’s unpleasant to listen to during the day. I get they have to have an alarm but the volume of it is so excessive.”

Another said: “It goes off EVERY time a van or lorry enters or exits Tesco’s premises.”

Residents have contacted Broadbridge Heath Parish Council who say they are now looking into the problem.

Meanwhile, Tesco says it strives to be good neighbours and says it is working hard with maintenance teams to explore options on reducing the sound.