Skip to main content

Unidentified Flying Objects

Volume 387: debated on Wednesday 30 November 1977

The text on this page has been created from Hansard archive content, it may contain typographical errors.

asked Her Majesty's Government:Whether they are aware that Monsieur Robert Galley, the then French Minister of Defence, in his radio interview on the France-Inter radio on 21st February 1974 stated that the

gendarmerie are playing a very large part in official investigations into unidentified flying object sightings and alleged landings; and whether our police have been likewise officially

instructed to collect reports and investigate these unidentified flying objects.

The Government have no knowledge of either the radio interview to which the Question refers, or the role played by the gendarmerie in investigating unidentified flying objects. The police in this country have not been asked to collect reports of, or investigate, unidentified flying objects. The jurisdiction and powers of the police are normally confined to terrestrial activities, but I have every confidence that should an occasion arise where there is evidence that an unidentified flying object has landed within a police area, the police force concerned will investigate it with its customary vigour. However, until there is some clear indication that the frequency of such occurrences is likely to impose a significant burden on the police, I doubt whether it would prove fruitful to issue guidance on this subject.