Residents of a Colchester street got more than they bargained for on the eve of National Noise Action Day.

Colchester Council's environmental control manager Colin Daines was called out at 11pm on Tuesday night after lightning set off alarms in an empty office in Old Coach Road.

Mr Daines said he thought a bell and two sirens had been ringing since the lightning and power cut at 6pm.

He had been told the noise disturbed people at the nearby Rose and Crown in East Street.

The empty office was above a taxi firm where staff were trying to work and take calls.

Mr Daines also heard a university student was trying to prepare for exams in a nearby house and was put off by the noise.

"I decided we had got to turn it off. I could not speak on the phone outside the building," he said.

He managed to get a warrant from Colchester magistrates to enter the building just after midnight and was on his way home by 1.45am.

Mr Daines said National Noise Action Day is organised by the National Society for Clean Air and Environmental Protection to show the nuisance noise can cause.

"It really is a serious problem. There's always going to be problems with alarms."

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