A spate of UFO sightings in Romford 16 years ago prompted an investigation by specialist teams in a secret Ministry of Defence department, according to newly-released Government files.
Over the course of a week at the end of March 1993, witnesses in Romford and Ilford, reported seeing "a bright cigar-shaped object, moving very slowly and making little or no sound".
The flurry of unusual nighttime sightings was investigated by Ministry of Defence (MoD) department, Defence Intelligence Branch D155, and the report has this week been made public.
But the flying phenomena were less ET and more GT, when investigators discovered the object was just an air balloon advertising a new car!
One investigator wrote to Defence Intelligence staff: "The object almost certainly responsible for these sightings is a brightly illuminated airship... advertising the new Ford Mondeo."
Martin Gill, of the Havering Astronomical Society, who has been star-gazing for 32 years, said: "If there's something unusual in the sky and you're not used to looking at it, then it's understandable people might be taken by surprise. But in my experience, everything can be explained rationally."
The de-classified files, which can be browsed online for free for a month on the National Archive, show a wide range of UFO-related files covering the years 1987-1993.
Among the more unusual sightings was a report by a man in West London in May 1989 of a creature with a banana head and humanoid arms and legs.
DI55 staff also interviewed a "completely terrified" woman who reported seeing a "large spherical object rising steadily" in Norwich in November 1989, after she said she was approached by a fair-haired man with a Scandinavian accent who told her he was a friendly alien.
