A WITNESS statement on a UFO website claims seven bright lights were seen over North Petherton.

The blog site, called UK-UFO.com, lets people record experiences of encounters with unidentified flying objects and lets other people comment on these posts.

Steve Sims, of Taunton, wrote about a run-in with glowing lights he saw in the sky on May 30.

Mr Sims, aged 28, said he saw orange fireballs flying through the sky while his partner drove down the M5 past the North Petherton junction.

He said: "I noticed a series of at least seven bright lights in the sky.

"I initially thought that it was Orion and that it was just very visible and low in the night sky but as we got closer it became apparent that the lights were red and moving and that they were at least four times brighter than any of the other stars that were in the sky."

Mr Sims at one point believed the lights to be planes coming into land, but realised they were too close together, too bright and too low to the ground.

"Also these were individual and constant balls of red light not flashing at all like the landing lights of a plane," he said.

"I wound down my window, as I thought that planes or helicopters that close together and at that height from the ground, - about twice the height of a tall electricity pylon - would definitely be audible even over the noise of the engine. However, they were silent.

"Then I noticed that the three lights at the end of the formation furthest away from the car had moved into a perfect triangle formation and continued in this formation.

"We were travelling in the opposite direction to the objects and as they fell behind the car, they seemed to move over the road behind and then rose slightly and disappeared into the night sky."

Mr Sims said, despite travelling this road two or three times a month, he has never seen anything like this in the area before.

A poster from Taunton, known only as M Hill, commented on this story, saying they saw three "fireballs" flying through the night sky on the same evening.

The user's comment said: "I live in Taunton and was outside my house at about 11pm. I looked up at the sky as it was a clear night and suddenly saw an orange or red ball of light which looked like a fireball.

"At first I thought it was a firework going up into the sky, but then realised it wasn't going to explode.

"I then thought it could be a comet or a helicopter, but there was no noise at all. I stood and watched it travel right over my house and then disappear out of my line of sight.

"I then turned around to see if there were anymore and a second light appeared and did exactly the same thing, then a third appeared and again the same thing happened. The lights were approximately the height that a helicopter would travel, but there was no noise.

"The lights all appeared to be travelling at an equal distance apart. I too thought it was unusual as I have never seen anything like it before."