Staff writers
A Traralgon hotel has been fined more than $9000 over excessively loud music after months of public complaints and for failing to comply with Environment Protection Authority instructions.
Hotel Traralgon – or Ryan’s Hotel – was fined after EPA officers gave advice on how to comply, conducted repeated inspections, then resorted to issuing an official notice and using electronic surveillance.
EPA Victoria Gippsland regional manager Jessica Bandiera said the pub’s management had plenty of opportunity to avoid a fine.
“It started last December when we gave Ryan’s Hotel advice on how to comply with the law, then we issued the pub with an official improvement notice in February this year,” Ms Bandiera said.
The improvement notice instructed the pub to immediately reduce noise volumes, and to engage an expert consultant to produce a report on how to resolve the problem.
Ms Bandiera said loud music was still affecting members of the public outside the premises in May, and EPA officers put monitoring equipment nearby to log the excessive noise levels.
“Inspections after midnight on two Saturday nights confirmed the excessive noise being logged was coming from Ryan’s Hotel,” she said.
“Officially, the fine is for failing to comply with an official notice, but it all gets back to excessive noise affecting the community.”
Ms Bandiera said the hotel failed to heed complaints from the public, failed to follow EPA advice on how to comply, failed to comply with an official notice, and failed to reduce noise levels.
