Sporting activity is good for you, but one couple in La Zubia (Granada) would disagree; the noise was driving them mad.

You see, they lived next to a padel court and the rythmic banging of rackets and bouncing balls just got too much for them so had no alternative but to move out… and take the padel-club owners to court. In the meantime, they lived in rented accommodation.

The result was that the owners were sentenced to 4-year’s imprisonment because of the “unbearable noise,” generated by the courts in use. The padel courts were ordered to close for the next two years. Furthermore, they have to pay compensation amounting to 35,000 euros for “pain and suffering.”

The court findings took into account the vibrations from the impacts of the balls on walls and the shouts of padel players on the said courts over seven long years (2011 until 2018) driving the couple to seek psychiatric help and the prescription of anxiolytics and antidepressants.

Things were made worse when the owners installed an unlicensed bar on the premises, which only added to the noise levels.

During those seven years the couple lodged no fewer than 43 complaints but to no end, so they decided to take the issue to court and prosecute. However, this court sentence is not the end of judicial procedure because the owners can appeal before a higher court.

The padel courts were only supposed to be in use during established opening times, but it was proven that this was not the case. They were supposed to close in the evenings at 23.00h, but this was often not the case: they started operating at 07.00h and sometimes went on until one in the morning

(News/Noticias: La Zubia, City & Metropolitan Area, Granada, Andalucia)