A COUPLE have had their hi-fi system seized after driving neighbours crazy with thumping music.

Police and environmental health officers took away Stephen Smith and Emma Appleby's music system to give other families in King Walk, Didcot, some peace.

Mark Crockford and his wife Silvana, whose live 15 yards away from the couple, said they had been blasted day and night for months with rap and pop.

Mum-of-two Mrs Crockford, 46, said: "They even put the speakers on the windowsill and directed the music at us at full volume. You could feel our house vibrating. They used to have the radio on all night."

Another neighbour, Pat Tuson, 55, said: "The noise has been horrendous day and night. I am not hypersensitive but it has been more than any reasonable person should expect to endure."

But Miss Appleby, 21, said: "We only kept the stereo on low at night to help our ten-month-old baby Lisa get to sleep. In the day time it was a bit louder when we played mostly chart music like No Mercy, and Stephen played Meat Loaf."

Miss Appleby claimed they were the target of a smear campaign by neighbours trying to get them evicted. She said: "We did turn the volume up one day. But it rebounded on us when a council officer turned up with police and took the stereo away."

A spokesman for South Oxfordshire District Council said: "For the past three months, residents of King Walk have suffered considerable disturbance from music being played at excessively loud volume."

Environmental health officers issued a noise abatement notice. But they say the order was ignored and they now plan to prosecute the couple.

Senior environmental health officer Jon Payne said they could see Mr Smith and Miss Appleby were never going to comply. The notice had been "flagrantly disregarded a number of occasions".

He said the council, with police support, had used powers under the Environmental Protection Act to confiscate the hi-fi and speakers pending court action.Mr Payne said:"The equipment still belongs to them but the council will hold on to it until it is satisfied that they are going to play music responsibly."

Meanwhile, Mr Smith and Miss Appleby have been threatened with eviction by South Oxfordshire Housing Association for rent arrears and other alleged breaches of their tenancy agreement. Miss Appleby, who is expecting their second child, said: "We have never been happy in Didcot. We are trying to move to Wallingford."

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