Residents living near Wollongong Coal's Russell Vale mine claim the company has broken a promise about early morning truck movements.
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In November last year the company sent a letter to residents stating it would remove coal stockpile over the next six months.
It stated empty trucks would not arrive before 6am and that "every effort will be made to minimise the impact of the works program".
However, resident David Bourke claims he is regularly woken by empty trucks rattling into the coal mine to pick up a load 45 minutes earlier than that.
"The time I tend to hear the first vehicle is around a quarter past five," Mr Bourke said.
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"What I'm hearing is empty trucks going up their driveway and clattering along because they're empty and not loaded down.
"Also there's workers driving in in their vehicles and they're not being quiet about it."
Mr Bourke's work hours are varied and he finds being woken up before the sun every day is difficult to deal with.
The time I tend to hear the first vehicle is around a quarter past five.
- David Bourke complaining about noisy coal trucks at Russell Vale mine
"My next-door neighbour is a nurse and she works shift work," he said.
"I think she finishes at three in the morning sometimes. I'm pretty sure she doesn't appreciate being woken up not long after she's gotten home from work."
The Broker Street resident said the trucks were noticeable early in the day because it was otherwise so quiet.
"The noise when they're coming up the drive early in the morning when it's dead quiet is the worst part of it," he said.
"As they're loading out later in the day you don't hear it amongst the daily sounds of suburbia."
The Wollongong Coal letter said truck loading would occur only after 7am, but Mr Bourke said there was reason why it couldn't start even later.
"They're mostly quiet by 10 or 11 in the morning so I can't understand why they can't start at say eight in the morning and go til midday and be in sync with normal hours of every other industry and business."
Wollongong Coal was contacted for comment but did not respond.