A DRONE which buzzed households and shops in Aberporth last week has been “grounded” by its owner after its flight over the village sparked a flurry of complaints on social media.

Several residents expressed alarm after the drone made a number of passes over the lower end of the village with one claiming it came “within spitting distance” of her house.

“Very un-neighbourly whoever they are!” she commented. Others admitted aiming rude hand gestures at the winged intruder.

But now the owner of the drone – revealed as former BBC operations director Martin Church – has apologised unreservedly and pledged never to fly it over Aberporth again.

In a contrite post on the Aberporth Community Facebook page which included a series of aerial shots of the village, Mr Church wrote: “I hold my hand up – it was me.

“The drone was my birthday present and I am still practising flying and, as far as I am aware, abiding by the drone code of conduct.

“Please do not be alarmed. Just because the drone is above you does not mean it is filming you, quite the contrary. I worked for the BBC and spent over 40 years working with visual imagery and I can assure you that, if my drone was over your house, it was looking forward at approximately 15 degrees down producing lovely scenic images.

“With the horizon in the top third of the image as shown, it was well over 100 metres above you – I have the flight logs if anyone wants to see them.

“If I had wanted straight-down footage this is already available on Google Earth etc and [is] very boring. Please accept my apologies for any unintentional distress caused.

“With respect for my fellow villagers’ concerns I will not fly over Aberporth again.”

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