A Royston lorry driver has said the noise level of announcements at the town's railway station has increased, and is keeping him from sleeping when he returns from night work.

Tony Payne has lived in Wrexham Terrace for 15 years and says the noise level from the automated announcements at the station was "fine".

However, he has said the station's new system where announcements are made live over intercom is "three times as loud", and keeps him awake when he returns home after his shift.

He told the Crow: "The new intercom has been installed for about two months I would say and I would describe the voice as booming.

"I can't relax in my own garden because I can hear it telling me what platform to get on. And it's keeping me awake when I am inside the house with the windows closed. Saturday was a nightmare. On Sunday morning by 8.10am he had been on three or four times and woken me up.

"It's nice to have a bit of sun, I have worked right through COVID and this is the first real weekend we've had the chance to spend in the garden this year, but you're not going to be able to relax with that noise.

"I have gone over to the station twice to complain. This man seems to like the sound of his own voice - I went to complain yesterday and afterwards the noise level went up another notch.

"I asked them to turn the level down to the same level as the automated announcements, but you don't get a good enough answer to that.

"They turned round and said why choose to live near a station. The automated sound is fine, so why can't they keep it at the same level as the automated alerts? I'm a lorry driver, what if I have an accident due to lack of sleep? They've stopped replying to my emails now.

"We can't move house, if I had the money I would move tomorrow."

A spokesperson for Govia Thameslink Railway, which runs the Great Northern line, told the Crow: “These passenger announcements are essential for the safe running of the railway, but the new system was louder at first, and we reduced the volume as soon as we learned of our neighbours' concerns.

"We're now monitoring to check it's consistently as low as possible, and we’ve also shortened the times of day when the system is used.”