A scientific answer to the mystery affecting Clacton car owners has been put forward.

The Office of Communications (Ofcom) sent an investigator to the town after the Gazette reported bemused motorists were facing a car key conundrum.

Remote control car keys stopped working in the town's Hudson Close, leaving drivers, including Phil Green, locked out of their cars.

The mystery deepened when John Parker, of Stoneham Avenue, found his key fob was not only opening his Vauxhall Astra car but ringing people's doorbells in Clacton and Walton as well.

Readers have been phoning our newsroom in force to suggest answers to the enigma from police radios to mobile phone masts.

But Ofcom has said neither of these could be the cause - but a number of things from television remote controls to faulty television booster aerials are creating the problem.

An Ofcom spokesman said devices operating at a low-power radio frequency of 433.1MHz can all interfere with each other.

He encouraged anyone with further problems to report them to Ofcom on 020 79813040 and read further information on www.ofcom. org.uk/advice

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Published Thursday, September 15, 2005

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