RING tones are their business but a non-stop alarm is causing staff at a phone shop to go "out of their mind".

Staff at Phones4U in St George's Street, Canterbury, say they are fed up with constant ringing from the fire alarm at an empty shop next door.

They said it is affecting trade and distracting customers. The property was home to the Christmas for Less shop but they moved out at the end of December.

Stuart Porro, at Phones4U, said: "It is doing my head in. We often have to stand outside the shop to bring in more trade and that's when it's really bad.

"Customers are asking what the noise is when they come in and when we talk to them over the phone. We have turned the music up in here to help drown it out."

The alarm was reported to a passing police officer last week but spokeswoman Jane Walker confirmed it was not the force's responsibility.

City council spokesman Rob Davies said it had not acted because no complaint had been made.

He said one of its officers had reported the alarm after walking past on Friday.

"We have now spoken to the landlord and agents, but because it was recently sublet, there have been one or two problems tracking down who has the keys. We hope this will be resolved soon and anticipate the alarm will be switched off in the next day or two.

"The alarm that's ringing is a fire alarm. Had someone complained about it to us, we would have obtained a warrant that would have got us the access we needed to turn it off.

"However, to get a warrant, you need a complainant."

Staff at Claire's Accessories the other side said their in-store music was loud enough to drown out the noise next door.