A HI-TECH talking burglar alarm at a Ledbury motorbike shop is driving neighbours to distraction . . . but it's certainly keeping the burglars away.

Last Sunday, the alarm gave repeated warnings from mid-morning to evening, as heat sensors protecting KTM Motorcycles, on Little Marcle Trading Estate, were triggered continuously.

Pensioner Michael Hickey, of nearby Churchill Meadows, said: "The alarm says, Oi! You are trespassing in a restricted area. If you don't leave the premises, an alarm will sound.

"There's a rest for a few minutes and it goes off again. It drives us to distraction. Sometimes it is almost incessant."

Mr Hickey said one neighbour had rung the police and he and his wife, Joan, had discussed the problem with environmental health officers. But because the alarm is protecting a private unit on private property, it seems that little can be done.

To trigger the speaking alarm, something larger than a cat or a dog must come down a private drive and get within 30 metres of KTM Motorcycles, which was burgled several years ago. Since the talking alarm was installed two years ago, no burglar has returned.

Shop owner Jennifer Jones was forced to close a similar business on Worcester Road after it was burgled 25 times.

Mrs Jones said of the alarm: "You know how often I was burgled before. I've got to do what I have to do."

She concedes the alarm was triggered a great deal last Sunday, probably because traders were moving into a unit next door.

Mrs Jones is offering to discuss the alarm problems with neighbours if they come into her shop. She is also urging parents to keep children away from the unit after hours.