POLICE officers in Lancashire using the controversial radio system Airwave have reported nausea and headaches, according to a North West pressure group.

Rank-and-file officers have repeatedly expressed concerns about the safety of the Airwave system which is still plagued with problems despite being given the green light for use in Lancashire more than six months ago.

Now the Campaign for Planning Sanity (CfPS), based in Manchester, says that more than 30 officers in Lancashire, Yorkshire and Greater Manchester -- the only forces where the Airwave system has gone live -- have suffered skin complaints, headaches, nausea, sleeplessness and depression.

Lynne Edmunds, spokesman for CfPS, which was set up to campaign against planning and telephone mast applications, said: "There are urgent concerns about the safety of the Tetra radio system Airwave.

"Officers on the beat fear the health effects of the new communications system and the "guinea pig" users in Lancashire have reported sickness.

"Many officers have expressed concern over a police federation report which said officers using the system were like "guinea pigs in a cancer trial."

One of the most serious safety concerns is so-called 'spiking', a high-pitched screech emitted over the radios mainly heard by operations in police communication rooms.

Union bosses say the noise is now so bad that they are keeping a record of spiking incidents which may be referred to the Health and Safety Executive.

Some officers are even being forced to turn the sets off because the problem is so bad, they said.

David Brindle, Lancashire Police's corporate services manager, has previously accepted there were problems with the system and wrote to the Home Office suggesting a group of officers could be monitored to gauge the effects of the Airwave system.

Other problems with the system include poor ground to air communication and interference with electronic equipment.

The Airwave system was also supposed to operate between different police forces, but this will now not be possible until at least 2004, police bosses have been told.

Greater Manchester Police have already abandoned Airwave and gone back to their old analogue radio system because they encountered so many problems.

Benefits of Airwave include a background noise filter and, for the first time, encryption, which means that criminals cannot listen in.

The £1,000 mobile phone-style radios, which cannot be intercepted by criminals, allow individual officers access to police computers directly while out on the streets.

The features of a standard mobile phone also mean that officers will be able to talk direct to members of the public without having to return to the station.

Lancashire Fire and Rescue Service became the first brigade in the country to use the Airwave digital radio system when it switched over from the analogue system last month.

Nobody from Lancashire Police was available for comment.