PEOPLE in Chard, Ilminster and Crewkerne called 999 on three occasions amid fears there could be extra-terrestrial activity.

The News asked Avon and Somerset Police how many 999 calls containing the words UFO, spaceship, alien or flying saucer from Chard, Ilminster and Crewkerne have been logged over the past five years.

The force received one call at 7.39pm on January 25, 2011, another call at 1.54am on February 7, 2012, and a third call at 12.12pm on August 9, 2012.

UFO sightings are becoming more common, it is claimed, and in January this year, a jet flying near Heathrow Airport was reported to being nearly struck by a bright silver, metallic-looking "rugby ball-like shape" at an altitude of 34,000 feet.

In April, a mysterious black circle was spotted in Leamington Spa, while in London, “a mysterious white UFO” was spotted in broad daylight.

Finally in June, a paranormal investigator in Wales spotted an unidentified cluster of lights in Haverfordwest, and a strange flying object was found hovering with one large bright light and two small lights.