A GROUP of town residents are furious after a legal slip allowed a do-it-yourself firm to carry on disturbing the peace.

Geoff Barnsley, of The Tryst, has been fighting to make Retreat DIY in Birmingham Road, Bromsgrove, reduce the amount of noise it makes.

Mr Barnsley thought he had made a breakthrough when Bromsgrove District Council said it would be prosecuting.

But last week he was told no action would be taken because a time limit of six months had passed.

Mr Barnsley says the council had six months from charging Mr Woodhall with breaching the statutory notices to prosecute. But the prosecution never happened.

Simon Woodhall, owner of the builder's yard, says the district council dropped the prosecution because there was no case to answer.

Monitors installed in Mr Barnsley's garage at the end of 2001 showed the noise to be excessive and at times as loud as 96.5 decibels.

The World Health Organisation has suggested a standard guideline value for outdoor noise in the daytime should be no more than 55 decibels.

"It was driving us out of our brains," said Mr Barnsley, "I felt like I just couldn't cope with anymore noise. It could take a year before the council is able to prosecute them."

Stan Pemberton, of School Lane, said: "Everybody around here suffers from the noise. What started out as a small DIY shop, is now a builder's merchant. And nobody at the council seems able to prosecute Mr Woodhall about the noise."

Mr Woodhall said the noise limits were only breached on one occasion and that does not justify prosecution. He added that his business has been on the site for 25 years and he feels the residents had a vendetta against him.

David Williams, the council head of environmental services, did not wish to comment on the situation.