A former soldier has told how cracks appeared in the walls of his seaside home after explosions from a firing range rocked the Tendring coast.

Gary Willis, who spent 22 years in the Army, said he could hardly believe what had happened.

He and his wife, Dorothy, have lived in Sea Crescent, Jaywick, for about 18 months.

They were aware of the blasts being carried out from the Ministry of Defence and Research Agency's base at Shoeburyness.

But what they weren't prepared for was the sheer force of the explosions.

"It's not even so much the noise but the vibration," said Mr Willis. "The noise does disturb my parrots and dog but its the vibration which I believe has caused the cracks to appear in the walls."

A spokesman for Shoeburyness said important training work was carried out by the Army school of ammunition on January 6, 7 and 8, adding: "The QinetiQ range team was responsible for supervising this work and has ensured that all activities have been kept well within its self-imposed noise limit."

Published Tuesday January 13, 2004

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