LORRIES thundering through the night are keeping residents awake in Alvechurch.
The group of neighbours on Red Lion Street fear the M.A.C. Contracting Ltd vehicles may be using bridges in the village which they believe might have a 7.5 tonne weight restriction.
One of which, at Callow Hill, has partially collapsed once before.
John Hanson is particularly concerned about the noise, which has been going on for some weeks but has now reached a crescendo.
He said: “It’s getting us pretty frazzled and the lack of sleep generally grinds you down.
“I am really struggling with all of this – it is detrimental to your health.”
Two of John’s neighbours suffer with health issues and are also enduring sleepless nights.
Margaret Leonard suffers from emphysema and bronchial asthma.
She said: “It is terrible.
“It feels like the lorries are in the house with you, it is dreadful.”
John added he dreads the night coming, particularly as traffic in the street usually peters off at around 11pm.
Another resident, Ben Essex-Ross, has Marfan syndrome which involves a defect of his aorta.
Ben has a registered assistance dog and said that stress could cause him to suffer an aortic dissection, a medical emergency that can quickly lead to death.
John and his partner Dawn Holloway have filmed the vehicles passing through Red Lion Street at regular intervals from 12.10am until 12.55am on more than one occasion.
John said the lorries tend to start driving past his house after 11pm and can continue in both directions until 4am on some mornings.
Ben added that on Saturday (April 25) evening the noise started at midnight and lasted sporadically until 5.30am.
A transport clerk at M.A.C commented that the vehicles are making their way to overnight road repairs on the M5 and M42.
The route through the village, it was said, is the quickest and most direct in order to avoid weight restrictions.
When questioned regarding the 7.5 tonne restriction in Alvechurch, the clerk added he was not aware of any restrictions along the route but would check and confirm.
The Canal and River Trust have commented there is no weight restriction listed on their system for the bridge at Callow Hill.
However, an engineer will visit the site over the next few days to assess the state of the bridge and to see if a restriction would be appropriate.
