A WORCESTER street is celebrating after a man who subjected neighbours to a two-and-a-half year barrage of thumping music moved out.

Relieved neighbours in Cyril Road, Rainbow Hill, said they felt like holding a party after news Tom Morris had quit his home.

None of them knows where the 43-year-old has moved.

Mr Morris was branded a neighbour from hell after bombarding nearby residents with loud music day and night.

His ear-bashing antics led to Worcester City Council taking him to court in January, when he was fined £1,000.

In May, environmental health officers seized CDs, tapes, and amplifiers after a flood of complaints about music blasting from his flat.

The council served noise abatement orders on Mr Morris in June 1998, and April 1999, and also seized equipment in August 1999.

Next-door neighbour Jackie Green said music was pumped our hours at a time, day and night.

"When he first moved in, we asked him to turn it down, and all we'd get was a mouthful of abuse," she said. "Everybody's so relieved that he's gone. We've now got peace and quiet and the street's back how it used to be - a quiet cul-de-sac.

"You can go to bed without thinking 'God, is the music going to start?'"

She said Mr Morris made one more final blast a couple of weeks before he moved out when he was playing loud music at 4.40am. Since then, peace had fallen on the area.

"It was worse for us because we were right next door," added Mrs Green.

"At one point, I thought I was going to be really ill. I was never getting any sleep and sometimes had to be at work at 6am.

"When he left we said we were going to have a street party. If we'd been here when he left, we would've cheered and clapped."

Roy Fidoe, head of the city's environmental health, hoped Mr Morris had learned his lesson.

"I hope he'll behave in a neighbourly way with his new neighbours," he said.

Mr Morris was unable to be contacted for a comment.