Cliff fan has CD player confiscated

Cliff fan has CD player confiscated

Cliff Richard CDs were taken

A Cliff Richard fan who upset her neighbours by playing the star's records too loudly has been ordered to pay nearly £1,000 in fines and costs.

Sian Davies, 23, had her hi-fi seized by noise watchdogs after neighbours complained about the music being played night and day.

Ms Davies, who was living in a flat in Porth in the Rhondda Valley, south Wales, was fined £600 and ordered to pay £364 costs by magistrates after admitting two charges of noise nuisance.

She was also ordered to forfeit two CD players, a midi-system, a record player, two cassette players and five speakers.

The hearing at Rhondda Magistrates Court was told that the confiscation was an act of "last resort" after Ms Davies had ignored written warnings to turn down the volume.

You could hear Cliff pounding out of the windows day and night

Debbie Rees, neighbour

An abatement notice was served under the Environmental Protection Act, but council officers had to return to the property on two more occasions because of the loud music.

In September, police accompanied the council team who had a warrant to seize her music equipment.

They also took 80 CDs and 155 cassettes, including a Sir Cliff Richard single called Peace in Our Time.

"This case highlighted the problems that noisy neighbours can cause," said Lester Lewis from the council.

"We receive a number of complaints about noise nuisance and several times in the last year we have taken action to seize hi-fi equipment.

The star has been performing since the 1950s

"This is a last resort. In this case we prosecuted only after verbal and written warnings had been ignored," he added.

On Tuesday, the flat where Davies had lived was boarded up and neighbours said she had moved away.

"You could hear Cliff pounding out of the windows day and night," said neighbour Debbie Rees.

"It was so loud that it was disturbing everyone around here - and lets face it, not everyone loves Cliff as much as she does," she added.

Sir Cliff Richard entered the music business in 1958 and has had hits every decade since the 1950s.

"It would be the first time I had heard of Cliff being played at such a volume," said Bill Latham, from the star's management company.

"But Cliff would not want anyone to play his music so that it caused a nuisance."

But, he admitted that he was "delighted" that the star had such young fans.

"The generation of Cliff's fans are in middle age - but you only have to look at his audience to realise his broad appeal," he added.