Bradford is the second worst place in the country for neighbour noise, a survey claimed today.

But most people do not bother to report noisy neighbours to the police because they are too frightened.

The study by insurance firm Direct Line said one in ten homeowners had problems with their neighbours, but they were scared to do anything about it or did not know what their legal rights were.

A survey of more than 2,300 adults showed the most common complaints included loud music and barking dogs.

Bradford was the second worst place for neighbour noise, with only Liverpool receiving more complaints. These two were followed by Leeds, London and Edinburgh, according to the report.

The news comes as Noise Action Week drew to a close today.

Bradford's environmental health officers have been calling on people to keep quiet during the week of awareness.

Earlier this week the Telegraph & Argus reported that in the last year Bradford Council's environmental health department received 2,350 complaints about noise.

In addition a recent survey carried out by the Office of National Statistics shows that England and Wales have become much louder places in the last 20 years. Noise complaints have gone up nearly five-fold in this time with loud music and barking dogs the biggest irritants.

In Bradford, officers have a range of powers to deal with noise problems and environmental health staff have started working in partnership with community mediation service Community Accord. Bradford Community Housing Trust also offers a dedicated mediation service to its tenants. Both services are free.

Kate Gabriel, the Council's acting principal environmental health manager, said: "I do not know what criteria Direct Line used to decide which area was worst so I cannot comment on the result.

"Bradford Council recognises the effect noise can have on people's well-being and we take the issue very seriously. More than 2,300 complaints of noise were investigated last year by Environmental Health staff.

"The highest number of complaints was loud music from domestic premises (867) and the next highest was barking dogs (513). This is consistent with the results found by Direct Line.

"We work hard to raise public awareness of the impact the noise they make can have on the health and quality of life of others. We also advise people suffering from neighbour noise what help we in Environmental Health can offer.

"While we use our powers to take legal action in severe cases, such as serving abatement notices, seizing equipment and prosecuting offenders, this in itself can be very stressful to the victim. Most people just wish to live in peace but this needs neighbours to be considerate and respect others' needs. Mediation can help and we are working with Community Accord in Bradford to help people suffering from neighbour noise to reach an amicable understanding with their neighbours."

Andrew Lowe of Direct Line said: "Homeowners feel that they have nowhere to turn in dealing with nightmare neighbours, and are not reporting incidents to the police or local authority.

"The fact is that the police take these kinds of complaints seriously and will soon have the power to evict noisy neighbours if they are causing problems."