Elderly residents left in the dark as outside lights left broken for over a year

[dutchman]

A Coventry resident has slammed his housing association over claims he and his elderly neighbours have been left without outside lights for over a year



Post lights on the footpath leading to the Barras Green bungalows in Upper Stoke are frequent targets for vandals, and the elderly residents who live there say they face a walk in the dark to get to their homes.

One resident, Peter Stanton, says he has reported the problem to housing association Whitefriars on a number of occasions, to be told that they would add it to their repairs list.

The path also leads to an Alzheimer’s day centre, and with no normal street lights close by, Mr Stanton says residents and visitors feel unsafe leaving their homes after dark.

He said: “What happens is, when the lights are all on and lit up, some idiot comes along and goes along the row, and pushes or karate kicks them off.

“They’ve been off for over a year on this occasion. One of them was working a short while ago, but then the damp got to it and it packed up.

“At night the area is totally dark. If it wasn’t for the lights on our porches, we’d have no lighting at all.”

Initially, Whitefriars told the Telegraph that because of the repeated vandalism, they were not looking to fix the lights, instead considering alternative options.

However, they later added that they would look to meet with Mr Stanton next week, before putting a new lighting system in place over the next two to three weeks.