A double sighting of UFOs above our skies was reported by different witnesses within hours of each other.

One local family-of-three claims to have seen a pair of strange black and silver flying discs frenetically pirouetting above rooftops in Collier Row, just after 6pm on October 3.

And later in the early hours of the following morning a witness in Dagenham also claims to have seen unexplained aerial phenomena.

Logging their accounts on Canadian-based UFO websites, ufoinfo.com and HBCC Research, the witnesses both describe seeing low-flying ovular craft passing quickly and silently above homes.

The Collier Row dad said: "Just happened to look out of the window and two dark objects came into view.

"The second trailing object caught my instant attention due to its strange flight pattern. It seemed to rotate not only round in one direction but also on its axis revealing a silver underside. It gave off the effect of doing a figure-of-eight-type manoeuvre."

The man added: "What we have witnessed has left us in no doubt that what we saw were flying saucers - whether they're alien technology is another matter."

The Dagenham witness is equally puzzled by what he saw: "I don't know if it is craft but I have never seen anything like it before in my life," he said. "It passed behind the house at a distance of about 15 feet in the air and made no sound."

The sightings follow a report in last week's Recorder of former councillor Martin Sinclair's close encounter with a mysterious orange hovering space craft over Romford in 1994.