Strange lights and noises wake sleepers

INTRIGUED residents have taken to social media to highlight a strange phenomenon which woke whole neighbourhoods in Hinckley.

Reports of strange lights and a loud whirring noise have been shared across Facebook and Twitter having occurred at around 5am on Monday.

Descriptions of the racket ranged from jet fighters manoeuvring, factory unit resonations and even a visiting space ship.

Emma Kerr, from Henry Street, was woken by the din and decid- ed to film the lights on her phone. She said: “It was fading away when I started recording. You could hear it over my voice at the beginning. And there were lights behind the houses leading onto Wykin park.

“I was waiting for a giant UFO to lift off into the sky. I have never heard anything like it other than I can say it was like a swirling noise like a hot air balloon being blown up. Like three helicopters going round it was that loud. I heard people come out their houses after, chatting. It must have woken a lot of people up. My mum in Sapcote heard a noise at around 5am similar to what I explained.”

On Facebook Lauren Glover said: “I honestly thought a plane was falling from the sky ... Slightly dramatic I know but have never heard such a horrific noise!”

Philip Burrows added: “It sounded like two jets dog fighting.” And Michael Meyrick chipped in with: “It sounded like the trains that clean the tracks.”

While Greg on Twitter posted: “I heard this too. It was mad, so loud. I looked over towards Dodwells and there were some strange lights in the sky.”

Others seemed to have an explanation for the happening and pointed the finger at the manufacturing companies on Dodwells Bridge Industrial Estate.

Karen P Lemmon said: “It’s a regular thing... was told it’s a steam release safety valve from one of the units.”

The hullabaloo resulted in calls to the emergency services with a fire and rescue crew turned out from Hinckley’s station.

They identified the problem as originating from the DS Smith factory on Dodwells Road. A spokesman said: “One of the boilers had a fault and it vented off sounding like a jet fighter.

“We were called out because of the noise and the lights and we managed to close off the boiler.

“Sadly it wasn’t anything near as exciting as a UFO.”