PUPILS at an Ilkley school will no longer be saved by the bell - after beleaguered residents claimed the sound of their siren took them back to the blitz.

Staff at Ilkley Grammar Lower School are now being forced to 'teach by the clock' after the wires of the offending klaxon were cut.

An external siren was fitted at the site after an education reshuffle to keep temporary classroom units in tune with the school timetable.

Richard Jennings, head teacher of the lower school, said: "We had major problems with reorganisation. We had extra units put outside and they were not wired electrically inside. It would cost far too much money.

"The authority said an external bell or hooter would be put up outside. This turned out to be a klaxon."

Mr Jennings was forced to muffle the siren himself as a goodwill gesture to near-by residents who said they were being deafened by it.

He said: "I disconnected it. We had complaints from residents. We acted on their behalf to try to get the sirens turned down.

"In the end we had it disconnected. We now have no means of communication. We want to support the neighbours. We do not want to work against them."

Residents of Wyvil Crescent, which looks on to the school, said they were delighted it was safe to remove the ear plugs. Elderly residents had even complained the siren - which blasted several times a day - was so loud they felt like scrabbling for an air-raid shelter.

Leslie Court, 72, of Wyvil Crescent, said: "There are a lot of elderly people around here and that was the siren they used in the war. It was upsetting a few people. Taking them back, like."

His neighbour Susan Thompson, said the siren was putting her on edge. Mrs Thompson, 50, said: "It was horrendous. You'd have thought it was wartime.

"I'm on the sick and I was having to listen to that every day. It made you jump.

"You'd have thought they would be old enough to know it was time to go in without a blaring siren."

Her mother-in-law, 72-year-old Marie Thompson, said: "It is peace at last. We are relieved. You heard that and you thought prisoners had escaped.

"It was a blooming nuisance. I live right across the street and I could still hear it."

Ellen Ryan, 20, who was visiting her mother, Eileen Bradbury, said they were also plagued by the novel noise pollution.

She said: "It caused my mum a bit of bother. It is really loud. It drove her mad because it went off every so often."