Did police CCTV make Deirdre's car die?

Deirdre's embarrassment was profound when her Rover Sterling completely died on her as she waiting to turn right from congested Ninfield Road into Buxton Drive.

Other drivers hooted and waved their fists but the Rover was effectively immobilised.

Her trusty Rover's fault had Deirdre totally perplexed. But the Green Flag mechanic had the problem accurately diagnosed long before he had even arrived on the scene.

Deirdre said: "The car suddenly gave out. The engine died. The electrics went dead - except that all the warning lights came on.

"Everyone was hooting at me. I got out and ran down the road to where a county highways vehicle was parked. The chap and another man very kindly pushed me down the road and into Buxton Drive where I called out Green Flag.

"Luckily, the Green Flag man was only at Glyne Gap.

"Directly I saw him he said 'I bet I know what your problem is. I've just been passed by the police CCTV van. I bet it will start again now.'"

And it did.

The mechanic noted on his report: "Possible interference with transponder immobiliser."

Deirdre said: "I remember being passed by the police CCTV van just after I stopped.

"The Green Flag man told me it is always happening. He has had lots of call-outs to cars that have cut out after passing CCTV vans. He said it interferes with the car's remote control key and triggers the immobiliser system.

"With the traffic conditions, it was about 20 minutes after I had stopped when he reached me. By that time the car was fine again.

"But what if that happened on a motorway and you lost everything. You could be killed. By the time they checked your car the problem would have gone and nobody would ever know what had happened."

Sussex Police says they have never heard of such a thing.

A spokesman said the force had no record of any other complaints of CCTV vehicles interfering with passing traffic. All force CCTV equipment was regularly checked and tested and conformed to all operating guidelines.

r Has anything like this happened to you. The Observer would like to hear from you.