NOISY neighbours will have to mend their ways from Friday when new council "noise-busters" hit the streets.

Kirklees Council has spent £2,500 on portable equipment to enable environmental health officers to investigate allegations of high noise levels and record them.

And people who crank up the stereo to the max and refuse to turn it down will be issued with a £100 one-the-spot fine.

Pollution control manager Robert Crosland said: "We get between 3,000 and 4,000 complaints about noise a year about things like stereos, burglar alarms, and loud DIY.

"Stereos are the biggest problem because of the increase in power of the systems.

"We go to some premises and people have bought speakers the size of a wardrobe."

Under the current system, council officers try to sort out the problem during the day , which is not much help to the long-suffering neighbour who cannot get a wink of sleep all night.

It can be some time before the matter is resolved

But new legislation has enabled councils to set up response teams to tackle the problem directly.

And two officers will now be on duty to cover Friday and Saturday nights from 9pm to 7am and bank holiday weekends.

Staff will go out to addresses causing concern.

A background sound recording will be made and people responsible for causing noise more than 10 decibels above this level will be issued with a warning.

If there is no reduction within 10 minutes they will receive a fixed penalty notice for £100.

Environmental health officer Richard Hume said: "We are hoping we are going to be able to deal with complaints more rapidly than we have been able to before and solve things in an evening. There should be a big improvement in the level of service provided."

The service will be available on 01484 416600.