The council has appealed for help finding the source of a mystery siren that has led to one person being rudely awakened every morning.

John Lynch of Sandy lane, Teddington, said he had been hearing the “electronic” high pitched sound for eight minutes from about 6.09am since December last year.

He said: “It would be nice to have it silenced.” Councillor Virginia Morris, cabinet member for environment at Richmond Council, said: “Our officers have been investigating this noise but have not yet been able to establish the source, although we hope to do so soon, because it is clearly an annoyance for a neighbour.

“Mr Lynch is the only person who has complained about this noise and he has been kept up to date about the progress of the investigation. A similar noise which came from the boiler system of Marks and Spencer has been dealt with and silenced recently.

“I would ask anyone who does know where the noise is coming from to either ask those responsible to stop it, or report it to our environmental health team.”