Weirdness in Jedburgh

Over a period of hours yesterday (Wednesday, May 4) several drivers reported that the immobilisers in their key fobs mysteriously stopped working.

Len Wyse got in touch with the Southern Reporter, at a loss to explain the phenomenon.

He said that he noticed the problem when he went out “the back of five”.

“I tried to open the doors of my car, and it just wouldn’t open.

“I went down to the police station and I was told that two of their vans had the same problem.”

Earlier on that day, Jim Oddy of the Bongate Garage noticed something was amiss when he was called out to a second car with the same problem.

“I had just come back inside looking for key-fob batteries for a customer,” he said, “and then we were called out to the Co-op car park to a car that sounded like it had the same problem.

“And when we got there, there were another two cars, with drivers waiting for the AA, and they had immobiliser issues, too.”

In fact, one vehicle, Jim said, got towed, and here is where the story gets even weirder.

“People were saying that once they tried their key fobs again, away from the High Street, then they were working fine,” Jim said.

“it just seemed to be a problem for a few hours, from mid-mornign to tea-time, and just in an area by the High Street, maybe a quarter of a mile long.”

Nobody has yet come up with a convincing theory for the assumed interference with the vehicles’ systems.

Len Wyse says he joked with local police that it was due to the antenna on their station, while Jim went on to say it reminded him of instances where military operations or such like had interfered with technology.

If you think you know why locking cars in Jedburgh was such a problem, let us know at [email protected]