UK NOISE ASSOCIATION/PIPEDOWN
www.ukna.net
PRESS RELEASE
for immediate use 16
February2005
NEW REPORT: NOISE GROUPS CONDEMN
PLAN TO INSTALL TVs ON TRAINS
A week after commuters locked
themselves in the toilets in protest against the plans of the rail company
c2c to install televisions on its trains (1), two leading anti-noise
groups have condemned c2c's proposals. In a new report issued today, the UK
Noise Association and Pipedown (2) have called for a ban on piped
music and televisions on trains making short-haul journeys.
The report, Whose Choice is it
Anyway?, covers piped music and piped television not only on trains, but
also in the work place and in hospitals (3).
Nigel Rodgers, Secretary of
Pipedown, said, "Our report highlights areas where people have no practical
alternative other than to listen to the music, whether they like it or not.
In the run-up to the General Election the Government talks a lot about
choice. Such choice apparently does not extend to commuters trapped on
trains by the noise of televisions or to those patients lying in their
hospital beds, often literally powerless to escape. And many employees feel
that the only choice they have is suffer in silence or risk losing their
job. Some choice!"
The report's recommendations for
the next Government include;
x
a ban on piped
music and piped television on short-haul train journeys;
x
a ban on piped
music and television noise in the public areas of hospitals;
x
mandatory use of
head-phones for in-patients in hospital wards;
x
and a comprehensive
study of the long-term ill effects of piped music on employees to be carried
out.
Val Weedon, Co-ordinator of the
UK Noise Association, said, "The next Government needs to take the problem
seriously. We will be looking for some action after eight years of
inactivity. This report highlights the real human distress caused by the
Government's continued inaction."
ENDS
Notes for Editors:
(1).
The protest took place on February 8th on the Fenchurch Line into London
from Essex.
(2).
The UK Noise Association is the
national organisation which lobbies for action by government and local
authorities level to deal with noise problems. Pipedown campaigns against
unwanted piped music and piped television.
(3).
The report is attached
For further information contact:
Nigel Rodgers on 01980 623945 or
07971 518976
Val Weedon, 01634 686262, 07887
940004
