In Britain, police are set to shut down a pirate radio station after complaints from pilots that they are unable to hear instructions from air traffic controllers because thumping dance music.

The Guardian newspaper reports that pilots landing passenger jets at Birmingham airport are being drowned out by loud bursts of ‘garage’, which is a cutting edge dance music, characterised by frantic beats and prominent, repetitive basslines.

Police and Ofcom officers have traced the rogue signal to a pirate radio station transmitter, attached to the top of a city centre tower block. The studio and the DJ playing the offending tracks are thought to be nearby, but have not been located.

Ofcom – the UK’s communications’ watchdog – says: “This is not just some guys having a bit of fun and trying to get their break in radio. This has the potential to cause massive problems for essential services.”

But, National Air Traffic Services says no flights have been endangered: “These were short bursts of interference, which did not upset our operations or instructions to pilots. It did not threaten safety because we have safety procedures in place and we can switch to other frequencies if we have to. We did not need to in this case.”