RESIDENTS close to a controversial new landmark are furious after being kept up all night by its faulty alarm system.

The alarm at the Redcar Beacon - formerly known as the Vertical Pier - started to sound at 2am on Sunday morning - by 4.30pm, it had not stopped.

In a similar incident, on Bonfire Night, the alarm went off for around 12 hours.

Many of those living within earshot of the landmark, including elderly local residents and business owners, claim they have repeatedly been disturbed because of problems with alarms at the site.

Brian Foreman, 65, who lives opposite the Beacon, said: “There have been problems with the alarms on and off since I moved here in September.

"I can’t get any sleep because they are going off all through the night. I have to turn my TV up loud to block out the sound and some elderly residents are taking out their hearing aids.

“It is just not good enough, the council should be doing more about it, it is supposed to be their flagship project.

"As long as it is going off, the fire brigade have to keep coming to check it and that is putting stress on them – what if there is a real fire and they are out here dealing with this?”

Simon Zeck, who runs the Play 4 Fun amusement arcade on the Esplanade, said: “I might have to close early because I cannot bear the noise any more. By law fire alarms can only go off for 20 minutes and these are going off for 12 hours.”

The leader of Redcar and Cleveland Council, George Dunning, said he was aware of faults with the alarm system and had reacted immediately to residents’ complaints by contacting the council’s project team which was working to ensure the problem was resolved as soon as possible.