Lighthouse fog alarm sounding 'all day, all night'

People living near Land's End have been advised to buy earplugs due to a lighthouse's broken fog alarm.

Longships Lighthouse has been sounding a loud beep every 13 seconds for the past week.

The National Coastwatch Institution Gwennap Head said on social media the horn had been sounding "all day, all night" and "a set of ear plugs might be a good investment".

A tourist visiting the spot told the BBC it was "the noisiest sunset I've seen so far".

For the past week, Longships Lighthouse has been beeping every 13 seconds

Trinity House, which manages more than 60 lighthouses across the UK, said there was an issue with the "audible hazard warning signal" on Longships.

The company is making plans to send technicians to fix the fault.

The high-pitched electronic beep is usually only heard during foggy conditions, most clearly at Land's End, and also by residents of places around the coast including Sennen and Cape Cornwall.

Longships Lighthouse has been monitored remotely since 1987

A spokesperson said: "It will likely be an issue with the visibility sensor not functioning as expected.

"The hazard warning signal indicates diminished visibility in the area, such as fog."

The weather conditions have not been foggy this week.

Simon Muth, deputy station manager at the national coastwatch station at Gwennap Head, said it was reported to Trinity House on Wednesday.

"Trinity House came back and said 'yes, we know there's a fault...we're waiting for a spare part'," he said.

Longships Lighthouse, a 115ft-tall (35m) tower, was built in 1875 and is about 1.25 miles (2km) off Land's End.

It was manned by resident lighthouse keepers until it became automated in 1987.

Since then it has been monitored and controlled from Trinity House's planning centre in Harwich, Essex.

'Keep me awake'

David Hocking, of Land's End Landmark, said the continuous beeping was "a bit of a talking point and conversation starter" in the area.

One visitor said she hoped the alarm would have been "silenced" overnight.

"It's been going for a week I think," she said.

"This is not normal for Cornwall."

Another visitor said the alarm was "noisy", adding it would "probably keep me awake" but a hotel guest staying nearby said they could not hear the noise from their room.