Couple’s horror as they wake up to HGVs passing behind their £350k house daily

A couple were forced to wake up at 5am every morning after moving into their dream house just 9ft away from a dual carriageway.

Jackie McCormack and her husband bought a £350,000 three bedroom detached house in James Munday Rise, Coleshill, just outside Birmingham.

They were forced to wear ear plugs in bed and often woke up to noises when HGV lorries drove past, forcing them to keep all the windows and doors shut.

Living right next to the busy A446 Lichfield Road, the 58-year-old said they were battling the constant noise and pollution every day from 5.30am to 8pm.

In a video shared to Birmingham Live, Jackie stands in the garden while cars and trucks drove past behind the fence.

She says: "Basically a day after we moved in, we only found out how horrendous it was.

"It starts around 5am, 5.30am, you can hear the HGVs hurtling behind us, the vibration goes to the bed.

"We have to go to bed with ear phones, ear plugs in, because we know we are going to get woken up.

"I can't open any of the windows, the noise is constant. Absolutely horrendous."

Despite having a goal set up in the garden for her grandson to play, Jackie says "there is no way" she will allow him to go out.

"There is no crash barrier, the fence is only 9ft away from A446, that is just completely unacceptable," she adds.

She said she wished she could turn back the hands of time after relocating from their larger Victorian home in Kings Heath to live their dream in a detached property.

The couple initially had put an offer in on a four-bedroom new build on the same estate priced at £375,000, but when their three-bed came up for £25,000 less, they jumped at the opportunity.

Whilst going through the buying process on the lower-priced home, nearer the road, they had six or seven viewings of the house – but only on Saturday mornings "before the road wakes up".

Jackie explained: "Before we moved in we had several viewings that all took place on a Saturday morning which all meant that the road was relatively quiet. We absolutely fell in love with the house.

"It's a beautiful property. But I think because it was so close to the road, no wonder they dropped it by £25,000. Anyway, we went out and had a look at it on a number of occasions, absolutely beautiful, we moved in and it all started from there.

"I'm not saying we were duped, I think they [estate agents] should have been a little more forthcoming with the times they were allowing us to come see.

"If it had been about 2pm, we would have said 'what the hell' and we wouldn't have touched it with a barge pole. I'm not blaming the planners[either], but how they got planning permission to build a house so close to the road, I will never know."

Keen to solve the noise pollution, Jackie said she wanted the local council to install speed cameras so that the drivers could reduce the speed when driving past the area.

Warwickshire County Council said it is aware of the problems and will consider them "very carefully" to recommend possible solutions.

A spokesperson said: "A meeting is currently being arranged with various stakeholders to discuss this.

"Obviously, there is no guarantee that it will be possible to provide any measures, but we will consider the issues raised very carefully and aim to recommend possible solutions."

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