Your article "Call to put a sock in it" (The Argus, May 18), reported Chichester District Council is launching Noise Action Week from May 22.

The main problem appears to be burglar alarms which do not cut off after 20 minutes.

This 20-minute period is the legal limit for any offensive noise to be made and should not be taken as a recommended period for a burglar alarm to sound.

One or two minutes is quite long enough to scare away an intruder and there is a facility on most alarms which allows for such adjustment.

Twenty minutes is a diabolical intrusion into the environment.

In fact, an external sounder is entirely unnecessary and totally antisocial.

What right do people have to make a din in the middle of the night? If the internal sounder is not good enough, why wake up the whole neighbourhood?

Unfortunately, a large proportion of troublesome alarms are those which thoughtless people, having paid as little as possible for them in the DIY store, install themselves, all the while intending to protect their most valuable possessions.

Most reputable security companies would recommend having a remote link to keyholders or monitoring station rather than an external audible system.

At least then the message goes to someone who is interested.

Local authorities should take note.

-John Wakefield, Worthing