FORGET HG Wells and Dr Who, the answer to the mysteries of time travel may just lie somewhere along the B6278 near Barnard Castle.

For one of Britain's leading experts on UFOs and the paranormal has pinpointed the area in Teesdale, County Durham, as a portal to other dimensions.

Jenny Randles claims in a new book that time travel can be explained through time storms - clouds of electric energy which suck people into another dimension.

One of her most compelling pieces of evidence relates to an incident near the market town in 1978.

Mark Henshall, 16, was riding his motorcycle along the B6278 towards Eggleston late one night.

Now a 39-year-old corporate business manager, Mr Henshall tells in the book, Time Storms, how he was blinded by a bright purple light.

His motorcycle seemed to be "pulled" up the hill by an unforeseen force.

The shock was compounded when he noticed 25 minutes had disappeared, and all he was left with were burns on his body.

His experience was followed by an unexplained sighting in nearby Cotherstone in 1985.

Engraver Michael Scorer, 52, of Whitley Bay, was staying at a holiday cottage with wife, Kath, when he had a similar vision.

Mr Scorer said: "I saw an enormous bright object moving across the sky in the early hours of the morning which gave off this very strange feeling of sadness. It was not of this world."

Ms Randles claims the sightings are just a few examples of hundreds around the world - but that Barnard Castle could prove a centre for the strange phenomenon.

She said: "The incident near Barnard Castle is a very vivid and strong suggestion that the area could be a magnet for this kind of phenomenon."