Seddon residents are being kept awake all night as trucks slam into potholes

TRUCKS slamming into potholes in the middle of the night are causing havoc in the sleepy streets of Seddon, with cranky neighbours complaining of constant night-time crashing and banging.

Samantha McArthur, Scott Ellerton, Colleen Hartland, Christine McCall and Naomi Shadwick are demanding all port trucks must be prohibited from using local streets. Picture: Andrew Henshaw

TRUCKS slamming into potholes in the middle of the night are causing havoc in the sleepy streets of Seddon.

Cranky residents have approached the Maribyrnong Truck Action Group to complain over the notorious “crashing-banging” sounds which are keeping them awake all night.

Potholes are scattered across the intersection of Williamstown Rd and Geelong Rd in Seddon, while other problem areas including Somerville Rd near the VicTrack overpass and Coronation St in Kingsville.

Seddon’s Jennie Bremner lives near the problematic Williamstown Rd intersection and had a pair of specialist earplugs made just to block out the noise.

“It’s such a problem I have to wake-up in the middle of the night and put the earplugs in — it mitigates the noise a bit but it still doesn’t make it stop,” Ms Bremner said.

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“It’s interfering with our sleep and our peace … we have to put music or the radio on just to have our breakfast.”

Graeme McDonald also gets woken up at 3 or 4am every day from excruciatingly loud bangs.

Mr McDonald has lived in Seddon for 21 years and can’t remember the last time he had a good night’s sleep.

The problem is so severe he has decided to pack up and move at the end of the year.

“I sleep with the pillow on top of my head just to keep the noise out, the whole house vibrates from these trucks,” Mr McDonald said.

“We’ve had enough, it’s not going to get better — it’s only going to get worse.”

In another case, truck vibrations have caused a nearby resident’s house plasterwork to crack.

VicRoads spokeswoman Fatima Mohamed said the potholes at the Williamstown Rd/Geelong Rd intersection and Somerville Rd near the railway overpass have been repaired.

But MTAG president Samantha McArthur slammed the carelessness of Maribyrnong Council and VicRoads, saying the “patch-up” asphalt jobs used to plug the potholes around the area is not enough.

“These quick-fix jobs don’t actually treat the problem — those fillers just pop right out and deteriorate so quickly due to high volume of vehicles,” she said.

MTAG, alongside sleep-deprived residents, are urging VicRoads and the council to completely resurface the pothole roads.

“The residents can’t sleep, it’s incredibly loud but (VicRoads and the council) don’t seem to care,” Ms McArthur said.