Budleigh Salterton could have been visited by UFOs - after two separate sightings of strange lights were spotted over the town.

A 38-year-old Newton Poppleford businessman, who wants to remain anonymous, spotted a row of white hovering lights above the town on the night of Newton Poppleford carnival.

On the same night, 32-year-old Tom Ambrose, of Sidmouth, said he saw a series of multi-coloured lights projected above Budleigh Salterton.

Both men are convinced what they saw was nothing to do with the carnival - as the lights were well away from the village's celebrations.

The Newton Poppleford businessman, who watched in amazement for 15 minutes as the line of 12 white lights shone above Budleigh, said he had been told what he saw was a row of festival balloons - where balloons made of tissue paper with a candle in the base are released into the night sky.

But the more he thought about the sight, the more he discounted the idea.

When he returned later to see if the lights were still visible, they had disappeared.

He said: "I was driving and literally slammed on the brakes - that's how amazing the sight was.

"The lights were in a staggered, uniform line. They came down in a straight line in a diagonal fashion - and just hung there.

"They were quite far off and they were quite stationary. If they were helium balloons, there would have been erratic movement.

"I am not a sceptic. I am fairly open-minded. I am sane - I am not an alcoholic and I don't take drugs.

"Whether it was what you would class as a UFO, I don't know. It certainly wasn't aircraft."

Mr Ambrose said of his sighting: "It was quite low in the sky and there were multi-coloured lights. It was like looking at a very bright star because it was the same size - but it was coloured and brighter than any of the other stars.

"It was quite random and quite bright. I could almost see it change colour. It was quite bizarre because I wasn't sure what it was."