Schoolboy's TV aerial disrupted airport

Government officials raided the home of a 12-year-old schoolboy - because his TV aerial was interfering with planes landing at Luton Airport.

Nickie Chamberlain had used the booster device for two years to watch cartoons, music channels and Big Brother on his 14-inch television, reports the Daily Telegraph.

But an Ofcom official turned up at his home in Linslade, Beds, and confiscated the £15 aerial which he said was affecting planes landing at the airport.

According to Ofcom, pilots coming into land at the airport had lost contact with the control tower because the faulty aerial was transmitting on the same frequency as the cockpit radios.

His father, DHL operations manager Dave Chamberlain, 46, said he could not believe a tiny aerial could affect aeroplanes flying over his house.

He said: "The engineer was waiting outside the house when I came home from work and told me pilots had been complaining and they had traced the signal to our house.

"I couldn't believe it and at first I thought the engineer was some sort of conman so I had to carefully check his identification and make sure he was for real.

"Then we went inside and he followed the signal using a special reader to my son's bedroom and his booster aerial - I was absolutely gobsmacked."

Nickie, who lives in the three bedroom semi-detached house with his dad, brother Glenn, 14 and mother Erika, 42, said he was shocked to have caused so much trouble.

He said: "When I found out what happened I was upset because I couldn't watch cartoons or the television for a while - but it's better than causing a plane crash."