Rattling pipe torments people in Finsbury tower block for two months

Josef Ondko has had to endure a horrendous rattling noise for two months. Picture: Dieter Perry (Image: Dieter Perry)

Cosmetics worker Josef Ondko said the horrendous noise in Gambier House, Mora Street, started the day after the Upper Street water main burst in December and has been returning intermittently ever since.

The rattling is affecting flats from the seventh floor, where Josef lives, all the way to the 16th floor, but nothing has been done to fix the problem yet.

And sometimes it goes on all night, meaning getting a good night’s sleep is little more than a pipe dream.

“It’s one of the most severe noises ever,” Josef, 49, told the Gazette. “It doesn’t allow you to live. It’s just ‘bang, bang bang’. I had ear plugs in the other night and could still hear it.

“Sometimes I can hear people banging on the pipe because they think I’m making the noise,” he continued. “I don’t know what to do.”

Islington’s noise pollution team was called by the tenant management organisation (TMO) and has been out to witness the problem for themselves.

But that was more than a week ago and after the banging continued Josef wrote to his ward councillors and MP Emily Thornberry.

The town hall has now told the Gazette the problem will be sorted on Monday next week. Work will be carried out to replace valves in all affected properties, which will be music to the ears of all affected.

A council spokesman said: “We want to ensure everyone in Islington has a decent place to live. Our Housing Repairs team is working with Gambier House’s TMO to ensure this issue is fixed quickly, on Monday, free of charge to those leaseholders and tenants affected.

“We’d like to thank them for their patience while we do this.”

It will take half-an-hour to carry out the work in each property, with workers expected to be on site all day.