Lads who thought they saw Northern Lights in UK left fuming after finding out hilarious reality

Two lads were ecstatic after believing they'd been able to see the Northern Lights in the UK... until they realised what it really was.

Thanks to a geomagnetic storm currently taking place in our skies, the Northern Lights are currently more visible than ever. Move over Tromsø and Reykjavik, the UK's Durham and Essex are now Europe's best beauty spots!

However, as the nation scrambles to grab their mobiles and take snaps of the night sky, several people have run into obstacles when searching for those elusive green lines.

Two people who were hoping to see the lights back in May were Karim Akhtar, 22, and Sully Laurent, 21, who thought they'd struck gold after noticing a purple glow in the sky while walking home in Norwich.

The two men were clearly over the moon by the discovery and could be heard laughing excitedly as they walked towards the glowing sky.

However the men's dreams were soon dashed when they realised the source of the light was actually coming from a nearby Premier Inn.

"We’ve been catfished. I thought it was the Northern Lights," one of the men could be heard saying in the clip as they approached the hotel in all of its glowing purple glory.

"Thought it was the Northern Lights, turns out it's a f**king building."

Despite the two men's misery, viewers were clearly amused by the situation, with one person writing: "The sheer excitement and not being able to speak at first, to the utter disappointment."

"This is the most British thing," a second person wrote, while a third person joked: "Man premier inn think they’re summoning Batman."

Even the Premier Inn themselves couldn't resist on joining in on the fun, adding: "We be glowing," alongside a series of emojis.

The video has since gone viral across social media, with Akhtar later revealing to the BBC that he 'didn’t expect it [the video] to be so popular'.

"The reaction to the video has been crazy," the University of East Anglia student said.

"For sure we thought it was the Northern Lights... you can tell by my reaction. It’s certainly a good start to my TikTok career."

Akhtar went on to add that he's not given up hope on seeing the Northern Lights in person one day, after previously being disappointed during a trip to Iceland back in January.

However, with the lights making several appearances in the night sky across the following months, we can only hope the two men have since been lucky.

Responding to the video, a spokesperson has since said: "There’s no need to search the skies, Premier Inn is a beacon of light and can bring the Aurora glow directly to your room, without needing a camera to see it.

“Rest easy under the enchanting purple glow of our light up headboards, knowing that you can experience this wonder every night of the year from the luxury of one of our comfy beds."