Elderly residents left in the dark for six months
STREET LIGHTS OUTSIDE SHELTERED HOUSING COMPLEX TURNED OFF
DISGRUNTLED elderly residents have been left in the dark over why their sheltered housing-owned street lights have been turned off for six months.
Una Buck, 75, says she was “slamming her head against a brick wall” after demanding the lights get fixed before the clocks go back this weekend.
The great-grandmother-of-four is concerned for the safety of the seven elderly residents who live in the four bungalows at the end of Hellyer Close in Ferriby because their homes are in pitch black.
Una, who lives with her dementia-suffering husband Herbert Buck, 82, had fallen over in the dark after being left without a large street light and two bollard lights pronounced as “out of order” for more than half a year.
The set of lights are on a sensor, so they come on when it becomes dark, however, Una claims they only last 30 minutes before they switch off again, plunging her home into darkness.
She claims engineers contracted on behalf of Sanctuary Housing have been working on the problem in the street at least every fortnight since April, but the bottom of the street has remained in constant darkness.
Una, who has lived in the home for two years after moving from Gillberdyke, said: “I’ve got absolutely nowhere at all – and it could be another two or three weeks.
“When they come and say they’ve fixed it they wait a little while, but, as they drive off, the lights turn off. It’s a joke.
“It’s not fair. My husband is 82 with dementia and the next door along are a couple aged 83 and 84.
“My husband could have gone off and walked and fallen in the dark.
“It’s making my life absolute hell and the carers say they won’t be able to see to us because it’s so dark.
“I fell over last week because it was so dark, I couldn’t even see the hand in front of my face.”
Grandmother-of-11 Una also believes that the four bungalows would be a target for criminals.
With the dark nights approaching, Una says a lack of light illuminating her property and a farmer’s field to the rear would make her home be easy pickings for thieves.
She said: “We could become easy targets because it is all pitch black – it’s getting darker and darker and we’re scared to go anywhere.”
“There is a security light near to the house opposite, which is 200 yards down the road, but it goes off after 30 minutes – I can’t be getting up every 30 minutes through the night to turn it back on.
“If I hadn’t been on their backs about it since April, it wouldn’t have been sorted.”
A spokesman for Sanctuary Housing said: “We apologise for the inconvenience the intermittent fault with the lights has caused residents and we understand their frustration about the time it has taken to locate the cause.
“Our specialist contractors are confident they have now identified the issue and we will work with them to ensure the electrical repair work required is completed as quickly as possible.”