LOUD, late night train announcements are keeping residents awake, they have complained.

People living near Westcliff train station, in Station Road, have complained of “booming” announcements into the early hours of the morning.

Many have complained to train operator c2c about the noise.

Robert Stuck, 79, of Montague Court, said the problem has been ongoing for about two or three weeks.

He added: “The announcements were quite acceptable but recently the sound has gone up.

“It is at all hours of the day and night.

“The trains start at 4.20am and the last one is at about 1am.

“There are the announcements for the trains which are at an acceptable volume, but there are health and safety messages like ‘please don’t use your skateboard’ and ‘please don’t run’ which are very repetitive.

“During the day, we can’t use our balconies due to the noise.”

He added that the problem was affecting a number of residents in the area, including those living in several surrounding roads.

Mr Stuck told the Echo: “We had this problem last year and it was exactly the same.

“It is not fair and is not acceptable.”

He said he has sent several letters to c2c complaining of the news problems - but the only reply he has received from c2c is to say the firm are looking into it.

Janet Tite, 75, or Montague Court, said: “I think they had this new announcement that they normally didn’t have.

“It had this booming voice. It has been quite loud at night.

“With the traffic noise during the day you could hardly hear it, but when it was quieter at night you could, especially with the warm weather when you have the windows open.”

She said the problem got slightly better last week, and she is hopeful the volume will be kept turned down as it was causing problems for her and her neighbours.

A spokesman for c2c said: “We are aware of a number of complaints regarding the announcements at Westcliff station and we are currently working on a solution.”