A new public address system at the Texaco/Nisa Local on the Lichfield Road, New Invention has got local residents up in arms with some claiming its sounds like you’re living on a factory estate instead of a residential area.

Initial contact with the staff on site failed to get a reasonable response so Liberal Democrat Cllr Ian Shires, who represents the area, called in Walsall Council’s Environmental Enforcement Team. Officers have visited the site, the volume has been substantially reduced and is being monitored for compliance.

It appears that the filling station have been experiencing an number of bilking offences (the act of driving onto a petrol forecourt and deliberately driving off without paying; to commit a bilking). This has been happening over a period of months. As a result the management have installed a new system which is causing some confusion for some drivers. “I can understand the frustration of the management on site, but they also need to remember that they are in a residential area and it’s totally unacceptable for them to pass their problem onto local residents” said Cllr Shires.

There are other more effective ways of dealing with the issue of bilking which have been tried and tested by other filling stations in the area. “If the management at Texaco/Nisa Local had bothered to ask the Police or the local council they probably could have avoided the expense and the aggravation they have caused. Let’s hope lessons have been learned for the future” said Cllr Shires.

Foot note: If the action taken by the Council has not resolved the problem or the volume gets turned up to an unacceptable level then let Ian and the Lib Dem Team know.