The danger in the skies above Brentwood has been starkly highlighted by the third near-collision between planes in the area in as many months.

Safety experts are investigating the latest incident between a Boeing 737 and a Boeing 757 8,000ft above the town at tea time last Thursday.

And Brentwood and Ongar Tory MP Eric Pickles has warned the Civil Aviation Authority of his concern over air safety.

The scare followed a near-disaster last month when a British Airways 737 and a United Airlines 777 came within four seconds of colliding 24,000ft above Essex.

And in February two planes were involved in Britain's closest near-miss.

A 737 en route to Heathrow came within 100ft of a private Gulfstream jet while stacking at 12,000ft over Brentwood, Ongar and North Weald.

The latest incident occurred in the Clacton Corridor, the busiest air sector in Europe, which takes planes using Heathrow, Gatwick, Stansted and Luton to and from the Continent.

The 757 flying to Heathrow with 200 passengers passed close to a Munich-bound 737 carrying 100 people.

Investigators from the UK Airprox Board will now have to decide how far apart the jetliners were.

Hard-pressed air traffic controllers have already warned that longer shifts plus the growing number of flights could lead to disaster.

And Mr Pickles said: "I have written to the CAA to express my concern. We have the most congested skies in the world and my worry is that in less than two years the new air traffic control centre near Southampton takes over from the present centre at West Drayton. I want assurances that the computer system there is adequate."

But a CAA spokesman said that the number of air-miss incidents in Britain was actually reducing.

"Our air traffic control handles 5,000 flights a day yet there are only 41 air proximity incidents a year and 80 per cent of these are assessed as being of no risk to either aircraft."

Planes are supposed to be kept three miles apart, horizontally, and 1,000ft vertically.

A jumbo jet that flew into Heathrow through the Clacton Corridor had near-empty fuel tanks, the authorititative aviation journal Flight International reported this week. The Government is reported to be investigating the allegation against Malaysia Airlines, said to have had insufficient fuel to divert to another airport if required.

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