A sleep-deprived woman filmed “barbaric” late-night roadwork which kept her awake for three nights and forced her to flee her home.
Diane O’Dwyer’s footage shows Kent Highways workers pumping tonnes of rubble into a skip just feet from outside her window in Whitstable during the early hours.
Resurfacing works in Sea Street resulted in five nights of drilling and banging, according to the 51-year-old, who says she and neighbours have been kept up until 3am.
The noise became so unbearable the businesswoman was reportedly forced to leave her £1,600 a month flat to stay with her mum nearby for peace.
“Friday night was just barbaric. I mean, it started at sort of seven o’clock, and it went right through till about half one,” she said.
“They were using diggers and drills, there were four or five big trucks, it disturbed everyone.
“They started the works last Thursday evening. At around seven o’clock, they started to shut the roads off.
“There were trucks and loads of workmen out there being really loud. They dug up this whole long road and resurfaced it.
“On the first night, it went on till about two in the morning.”
Exhausted and unable to sleep on Friday, Ms O’Dwyer fled to her mum’s home, where she stayed until Sunday.
“My whole house was vibrating. I couldn’t even watch TV,” she explained.
One video shot at 12.15am Saturday morning shows a piece of machinery dumping rubble into a skip just feet away from her window.
While another shows a lorry flattening the fresh tarmac, in each clip the droning noise of construction can be heard.
Ms O’Dwyer, who recently moved to the area, said: “They should not have let us stay here without offering alternative accommodation or something like that.
“I just don’t see why they did this in the middle of the night.
“They underestimated how barbaric this whole thing was, and the noise was completely unacceptable.”
While Sea Street is a “fairly busy” through road, the business owner believes the resurfacing could have been done during the day.
Ms O’Dwyer, who pays £1,600-a-month rent for her flat, believes the council should compensate residents who were unable to stay inside their homes and lost earnings.
“They should be made to pay for what they’ve done.
“ I mean, as in compensate all the residents that have lived here. Because I couldn’t stay, and I’m paying really expensive rent here.
“I mean, my rent’s like £1,600 a month.”
Kent County Council, which carried out the works, has said it “appreciates they can be disruptive”.
A spokesman said: “Works to resurface Sea Street in Whitstable were completed on 3rd October and will ensure the road surface is preserved for years to come.
“We carry out resurfacing works at night to minimise delays to the travelling public as much as possible.
“While we appreciate these works can be disruptive, we always try to limit the noisiest jobs to the earlier parts of the evening.”
