AN INVERKEITHING pensioner who is kept awake at night by railway engineers working outside his home has appealed for some peace and quiet.

Jim Brown (73), who lives in Boreland Road with his wife, Rose, said the racket has caused him to oversleep in the morning and he is not the only resident affected.

Having stayed in the street for 40 years he is used to trains going past but draws the line at the sound of railway tracks being dropped near his bedroom window in the early hours of the morning.

A representative from Network Rail has been to meet Mr Brown and local MP Willie Rennie, who is supporting him.

The company has been carrying out extensive maintenance at Inverkeithing and claims the car park beside Mr Brown’s home is one of the few places from which access can be gained to the track.

Mr Brown said, “In 2004, Network Rail starting using the car park for getting onto the railway line. They told us they would be starting at about 11pm and would be working until 5am, either Friday, Saturday or Sunday, but sometimes it’s all three.

“We have to put up with noise and it’s tremendous at times. The worst one was when they were changing the railway lines and they were using the car park to offload them. A guy dropped some of them at 2.30am on a Sunday. We thought there had been a crash.

“I understand the railway needs to be maintained but why are they using a car park in the middle of a built-up area for access to the line at unsuitable hours at night?”

Residents of Keith Place, Church Street and King Street were bothered by the noise, said Mr Brown.

“It’s not just myself and I know there have been other complaints.”

A spokesman for Network Rail said, “There are a limited number of sites which Network Rail can use to access the track. However, we visited Mr Brown last week and agreed to investigate whether we could access the track from alternative sites in certain circumstances. This inquiry is ongoing.”