Hackney residents have lashed out at Transport for London after a faulty fire alarm at Haggerston station was activated in the middle of the night and played on a loop for half an hour.
One local told Hackney Post that it was the 10th time this year the alarm had gone off and described living next to the station as “an absolute nightmare”.
TfL’s Director of London Overground, Mike Stubbs, confirmed that engineers were called to the station at 3.50am on Tuesday morning but were unable to silence the alarm due to a fault with the equipment. He said the alarm was switched off shortly after 4.20am.
Grant Palmer, who lives near the station, said: “I would say there have been around 10 memorable times in the last year [that it has gone off]. It’s the first time I’ve complained on Twitter and I have had to call up [TfL] before. My wife has called up and even wrote letters of complaint.
“The worse thing is that it falls on deaf ears, as we have had no apologies as of yet. I can honestly say living next to a TfL overground station has been an absolute nightmare.”
Dougie Newman, who lives in Liberty Plaza, adjacent to the station, said it was “like an airport terminal” after the alarm played for half an hour at 4am on Tuesday. “I could hear it very clearly even with the double glazing.”
Mr Stubbs said: “We would like to apologise to local residents for the disturbance this caused.”
Photo by: Secret Pilgrim, Flickr
