Builder guilty of digging up speed hump

Friday, 3 October 2003 12:00 AM

A builder who dug up a speed hump outside his Oxfordshire home has been found guilty of causing criminal damage.

Ian Beesley, 42, said he used his JCB digger to destroy the hump six weeks after it had been installed because of the noise caused by traffic going over it at night.

Oxford Magistrates' Court heard that the noise of traffic passing over the hump had been equivalent to a pneumatic drill.

An acoustics expert told the court Beesley would have been exposed to four times the recommended limit for sleep disturbance.

Beesley, from Oxford, was given a one-year conditional discharge and ordered to pay £263 compensation to Oxfordshire County Council and £500 costs.

He denied causing criminal damage, and argued the hump was infringing his human rights because he had been unable to sleep.

District Judge Brian Loosley said he did not condone Beesley's actions but had sympathy for him.

He said: "I don't condone what you did and you had no reasonable case. However, as one human being to another human being, I have great sympathy on two fronts.

"Firstly, we all have problems with noise in our lives and you had a particularly severe problem.

"My second sympathy is dealing with local authorities. I also have dealt with local authorities and have had similar problems to you, with problems getting through to people.

"Whilst I cannot possibly condone what you did, I can accept at the end of the day why you did what you did."

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