FURIOUS lorry driver John Stubbs is dreaming of a good night's sleep after a council bird scarer developed a fault near his home.

The scarer is supposed to mimic gull distress calls to stop them fouling Weymouth harbour boats during the day, but the machine developed a fault and began to operate right through the night as well.

Bird lover Mr Stubbs, 36, suddenly found it almost impossible to sleep in his Commercial Road flat because his bedroom was barely 100ft from the machine.

He said: "I am a bit upset. It is like hearing a woman in distress all night. I am a bird lover and I don't need this."

Mr Stubbs said the machine mimics the distress calls of terns, black gulls and grey gulls.

He added: "I want the council to get rid of it completely. I just don't feel that it is right to do this to the birds."

Weymouth and Portland environmental health chief Tony Beeson said that the council had become aware that the bird scarer had developed a fault and they had withdrawn it from service.

He added: "This bird scarer machine belongs to us and we were not aware that it was causing a problem until this week.

"It is supposed to be switched off at night because it is only supposed to operate during daylight hours but it appears to have developed a fault.

"We are not quite sure why but it has been operating right through the night instead of switching itself off, so we are sending it back to the manufacturers."

Mr Beeson said the council apologised to anyone who might have suffered any inconvenience caused by the bird scarer operating at night.

He added that when the machine is returned to the council the authority planned to make doubly sure that there was no repeat of the problem.

Mr Beeson said: "When we get it back the machine will not only switch itself off automatically before nightfall but it will also be connected to a time clock to make doubly sure that it does not operate during the night."