Mystery unfolds in parking lot as all key fobs stop working leaving drivers locked out of their cars
- The key fobs in this British car park all malfunctioned at once
- It left drivers unable to get into their cars
- An investigation was launched to determine the cause
Published on Jan 05, 2025 at 4:00 AM (UTC+4)
by Ben Thompson
Last updated on Jan 03, 2025 at 10:50 AM (UTC+4)
Edited by
Amelia Jean Hershman-Jones
Chaos ensued in this British parking lot as all the key fobs mysteriously stopped working, leaving drivers locked out of their cars.
The incident occurred back in August, but spawned months of investigation into potential interference.
This took place in the car park of grocery store Sainsbury’s, in the town of Market Harborough in Leicestershire.
In the aftermath of the debacle, the District Council looked into the matter.
DISCOVER SBX CARS: The global premium car auction platform powered by Supercar Blondie
What went wrong with all these key fobs?
Ofcom, the communications regulator for the UK, has now delivered its verdict to the council.
They concluded that there had been no reports of interference in the area, as reported by LeicestershireLive.
As to the exact causes of the incident in August, they are still investigating.
Councillor Darren Woodiwiss, who is the cabinet lead for car parking, said: “The council is aware of this unusual issue that has not been experienced before”.
“We have explored what the cause might have been but nothing has been identified.”
This isn’t the first time that Ofcom has investigated an incident of key fobs going haywire.
In the car park of another grocery store brand over in Royston, Hertfordshire, 100 key fob failures were reported over the span of three days in 2021.
As reported by the BBC, Ofcom’s investigation found no evidence of interference in that case either.
At the time, they concluded: “It’s difficult to say what might have caused these particular issues at this location, but it is likely to have been something fairly innocuous and accidental”.
“Previous similar cases we’ve investigated found the culprits to be a faulty doorbell, and some retro lightbulbs – and certainly not alien phenomena.”
It doesn’t take much for people to blame aliens, given how obsessed we are with extraterrestrials.
Technology – one step forward, two steps back?
The idea behind key fobs is that they make things more convenient.
It was a novelty when General Motors began producing keyless entry on their cars back in the 1980s, but now most brands offer it.
However, technology isn’t perfect – not that we can realistically expect it to be.
Fortunately, key fobs are on the tamer end of the scale when it comes to bionic blunders.
We’d rather have that than a robot attacking an engineer at a Tesla factory.
Admittedly, there’s quite a lot we’d take over that. Who wants to feel like they’re living in The Terminator?
