RADAR Affecting Motorists
Fearing that the village would end up being ruined, he appealed to his
neighbors to oppose the request, but his pleas fell on deaf ears. Most of
the residents relished the prospect of the village becoming a tourist
honeypot and welcomed the television company with open arms. The newcomer
promptly sold up and left but most of his neighbors stayed on and have
benefited from Heartbeat, the series that put Goathland firmly on the
day-trippers' road map. The village has become a shrine to the show, every
other shop a treasury of gifts selling Heartbeat jigsaw puzzles, mugs and
Matchbox toys, and badges demanding: "Send Us More Tourush he can use as
an integral part of his "Son of Star Wars" missile defence scheme.
The jury is out over whether the high-power pulses of electromagnetic
radiation emitted by the truncated pyramid poses a risk to human health.
Although some scientists believe it could, during a visit to the area last
month, the Defence Secretary, Geoff Hoon, claimed that there was "no risk
to the health of local people or livestock".
But motorists are already feeling the effects. There have been reports in
recent months of visitors to the moorland beauty spot finding themselves
stranded because the beams of radar pulsing from Fylingdales have
triggered their car alarms and immobilisers, which operate on the same
frequency. Drivers of some makes of car and many motorcyclists have been
left trapped in the village and had to be towed out of range of the base
by rescue services before they could restart their vehicles.
Some locals believe that the situation has got worse following the recent
upgrading of the base in the wake of the September 11 terrorist attacks.
Frank Doyle, who owns Bazaar, a shop in Skinner Street, Whitby, and makes
regular deliveries to the Goathland area in his Mercedes Vito van, says:
"It's getting beyond a joke. I've got stuck there three times in less than
two weeks and have to keep calling breakdown services to get out of the
place.
"I'm fed up with it. It's not just the inconvenience - it messes up my
social life as well. Now when I'm on deliveries I keep the engine running,
and I won't risk visiting friends who live near Fylingdales. It's not
worth the hassle.''
Jackie Fearnley, a Goathland resident and member of the Fylingdales Action
Network, a protest group opposing the upgrading of Fylingdales for a "Son
of Star Wars" role, says: "I know that car alarms are sensitive and that
some go off spontaneously, but this is getting ridiculous. It is a
nuisance to all the villagers. Someone has got to sort it out."
Goathland's North York Moors National Park car park attendant Bill Peirson
is one of the first to know when motorists fall victim to the Bermuda
Triangle-type effect created by the Fylingdales radar. He says that BMWs,
Jeep Cherokees and Mercedes cars and vans are badly affected.
"As soon as the alarms go off, I explain to owners that it's probably
Fylingdales that's caused it," he says.
"Motorbikes are the worst. There's one almost every weekend. There was a
bike alarm screaming all afternoon recently and the rider didn't have
breakdown cover. I asked a friend to tow him away, and when they got out
of Fylingdales' range, the alarm stopped."
Motorists visiting Goathland are not alone in being scuppered by the
military. Joanne Berry, a veterinary receptionist who lives at Tholthorpe,
near Easingwold, North Yorkshire, was driven to despair by her 1998 Toyota
Avensis when its remote-controlled locking system was triggered seven
times by aeroplane communication systems at RAF Linton - on each occasion
forcing her to make a 28-mile round trip to her dealer to get the system
reset.
"It was very frustrating and incredibly inconvenient," she says. "I've had
to leave the car unlocked or use the key manually - which sets off the
alarm for up to a minute. If I had known that aeroplanes would be a
problem, I'd never have bought the car."
Elvin Ravenscroft, senior technical liaison manager with the RAC, says the
problem has come about because there are a several organisations operating
legally on the same frequencies.
"The problem isn't isolated to military bases," he says. "It happens to
cars on docksides because of ship-to-shore radios, in hospital car parks
because of paging systems, and in the vicinity of security and
communication systems anywhere at all.
"The wavebands are licensed by the Radio Communications Agency and,
because of EU `harmonisation', they are used by radio hams,
radio-controlled model car enthusiasts and even by the remote control
units which sit on top of people's TVs so they can watch videos in bed, as
well as car manufacturers and the MoD. We've had people immobilised on
their driveway because of things like this."
Mr Ravenscroft says that people who think they've been immobilised should
use their key manually. "In most cases, if you wait a few minutes you can
restart your car," he says. "Although your alarm might sound, it's
possible to disarm the control box for the alarm or immobiliser by moving
the key fob as close as possible to the unit. The closer you are to the
alarm unit, the stronger the signal. It also helps if you have a good
battery in your key fob."
While the Radio Communications Agency says it is hoping that legislation
will be amended so that car and motorcycle manufacturers will eventually
be able to use a different frequency, manufacturers are adamant that the
situation is beyond their control.
Tom Johnston, a spokesman for Jeep, says: "It's not our fault. There's
nothing we can do about it. The problem is that, in accordance with
European law, the Government gives manufacturers such a narrow band to
operate in. The radio frequency we use for our key fobs is severely
restricted, and it happens to be the same as the one which is given to
military bases. It's hardly surprising that this is happening in Goathland.
The emissions from Fylingdales must be so powerful they are wiping
everything else out."
A spokesman for RAF Fylingdales said the base was aware of the problem,
but added: "There's nothing we can do about it. We've had the frequencies
we use for a long time. They are allocated to commercial, military and
government users, and the allocation is tightly controlled. As far as we
are concerned, our radars are working on frequencies which are well known,
and most car manufacturers take that into account."