Residents in a quaint country village are being agitated by a faulty drain cover that when driven over resembles the sound of a ‘double-barreled shotgun going off’.
Despite repeated complaints to authorities for over a year, residents along the A35 at Winterbourne Abbas in Dorset claim nothing has been done to fix the issue.
Local villagers have endured the clunking noise every time a car drives over the cast iron manhole cover to such an extent that they are now losing sleep over it.
While the issue is constant, it becomes even more pronounced in the early hours of the morning when the rural village is otherwise at a standstill and shrouded in peace and quiet.
The exact cause of the damage to the manhole remains unclear, although there is a small pothole visible right in front of the triple cover.
Tortured residents are now speaking out over the impact the manhole is having on their everyday lives, with 69-year-old local David Bailey saying he can’t even sleep in his own home anymore.
Living just a matter of yards away from the cover, Mr Bailey is routinely forced to spend three or four nights a week at his partner’s house in order to get a good night’s sleep.
He said: ‘I cannot stress how loud and annoying this noise is. I feel the vibration through the house whenever a car goes over it.’
The cast iron triple cover manhole along the A35 in Dorset has been driving locals demented with the shotgun-like noise it makes when driven over
The exact cause of the noise in still unknown, although there is a slight pothole evident directly in front of it
The manhole is located in the quaint village of Winterbourne Abbas in Dorset
He added living next to the manhole has become almost ‘unbearable’.
‘It is a very busy road and it has just been going on month after month after month now. It is ridiculous’, Mr Bailey lamented.
‘It has become nearly unbearable even with all the windows closed.
‘It is so loud you can hear it a few hundred yards down the road. Trying to get a peaceful night’s sleep is impossible.
‘It constantly wakes you up, especially when the area is so still and quiet. We need this fixed’, he stated.
Describing the sound of the manhole as ‘like a double-barreled shotgun going off next to you all the time’, Mr Bailey said that he regularly lays in bed at night ‘waiting for the next clunk’.
Complaints were first raised to both National Highways and the owner of the manhole cover, BT Openreach, in February of 2024 by local councillor Tony Hancox.
Both Dorset Council and National Highways have obfuscated blame by stating that it is up to BT Openreach to fix.
According to Mr Bailey, workmen have visited the manhole on two separate occasions but failed to conduct any meaningful work other than paint two white crosses over the cover.
A spokesperson for National Highways said: ‘We are aware of an issue with a noisy manhole cover and have raised this previously with the utilities company. We have been assured it will be fixed this month.’
A BT Openreach spokesperson said: ‘We’re sorry for the disruption the underground chamber cover is causing. Work is expected to start this month.’
