The MULLER factory in Stonehouse made significant noise in the middle of the night recently, annoying residents and leaving some children without sleep.

Dozens of residents complained on the Stonehouse, GL10 Community Discussion private Facebook page.

One resident, Andy Walker, said: “I had a disturbed sleep, the children stirred in the night and they didn’t have a great sleep either.”

Another said: “OMG will it woke me up a few times, that’s disgraceful.”

Another resident said: “I heard some loud noises about 6.45am, it sounded like a plane was taking off.

“Noise seemed to step around 8am when they fixed the problem.”

This incident - which affected a lot of residents - occurred on December 30, whilst engineers were working around the clock to get the rail bridge at the Ocean in Stonehouse completed on time.

A spokesperson for Müller Milk & Ingredients said: “In the early hours of December 30, a faulty industrial steam boiler at our Severnside site unfortunately caused a loud noise for three and a half hours until we were able to resolve the issue at 7.30am.

“Once fixed, we immediately launched an internal investigation and have since implemented additional engineering measures to prevent a reoccurrence.

“We sincerely apologise to local residents for any disturbance that this may have caused.”

A Stroud District Council spokesperson said: “We have received a number of complaints regarding noise occurring during the early hours of the morning on December 30 in Stonehouse.

“We have contacted the owners of the site believed to be the source of the noise, as well as the primary regulator for noise at that site, the Environment Agency.

“Investigations into the matter continue. If excessive noise is deemed to be a statutory nuisance, then formal enforcement action can be taken.”

Noise nuisances can be reported at https://www.stroud.gov.uk/report/report-noise-nuisance