Deaf ear turned to burglar alarms

A third of people ignore alarms

Home and car alarms are being largely ignored as people have become fed up with their noise, a survey suggests.

Although more than 40% of homeowners have a burglar alarm and half have car alarms, home insurer Zurich found a third of Britons ignore other people's.

Many people assume someone else will sort out the problem, it said.

It urged people to check their systems to stop them going off accidentally, and make sure someone else knows how to turn them off if they are going away.

Two out of three of the 1,100 people polled said they had their sleep disturbed by other people's alarms.

And a third admitted their own security systems went off accidentally.

A spokeswoman for the firm said alarms were still excellent deterrents, provided they were properly managed.

She said it was "crucial" people told someone how the alarm works if they were away for any length of time so that they did not disturb - and be ignored by - neighbours.