Car horn beeping finally silenced

Residents have complained about the noise from car horns

There is light at the end of the tunnel for residents driven to distraction by the constant beeping of car horns near their homes.

Drivers use a single-lane tunnel at Chapel Road in Six Bells, near Abertillery, as a shortcut.

But many motorists sound their horns as they enter the tunnel to alert drivers on the other side.

Blaenau Gwent council have said it now plans to install traffic lights on the tunnel.

Resident John Griffin said horns sounded day and night, particularly when parents were taking their children to and from school.

"The worst thing about it is that in the summer, you can't leave your windows open," he said.

"And if you sit out the back in the garden, it drives you insane.

"I suppose the drivers are afraid of getting their cars banged."

The tunnel has a disused railway line running over it and Mr Griffin would like to see it demolished so the road could be widened.

He will be delighted when the beeping stops, but does not believe that traffic lights are the best solution.

Cars skid in the winter and go into the stone wall of the tunnel John Griffin

"Traffic lights would just mean I'll have people parked up outside my house and more traffic noise," he said.

"I'm hoping that traffic lights come here and there will be that many complaints about the lights, they will have to look at the situation again.

"Everyone who comes here from outside the area asks why they don't take the bridge down.

"A widened road is what I want."

Mr Griffin said the car horns were not the only problem because there were often accidents too.

"There are about five accidents a year," he said.

"Cars skid in the winter and go into the stone wall of the tunnel."

A spokesperson for Blaenau Gwent council said: "We are putting up traffic lights so that there is safer traffic flow on the single-track stretch of Chapel Road under the former railway bridge.

"The council has placed the order with contractors and we expect to start the work soon."