Fault causes lights to stay ON

In this era of frugality, residents of some Portadown streets have been astonished to find their street lights have remained ON all day .
Tandragee Road and Thomas Street Portadown (Courtesy of Google Maps)Tandragee Road and Thomas Street Portadown (Courtesy of Google Maps)
Tandragee Road and Thomas Street Portadown (Courtesy of Google Maps)

And despite repeated calls to Transport NI, residents said they didn’t have a glowing report of the department and took a dim view of their inaction.

Indeed the problem has been highlighted to the authories regularly over the past year, claimed one local resident.

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The homeowner said he was dismayed that, in this time of austerity, the authorities were leaving the lights on rather than switching them off.

One resident said: “The issue of street lighting may seem like an old ‘horse chestnut’, due to lack of funds because of the current impasse at Stormont.

“This is different however as the lights are ON 24 hours a day seven days a week.

“Apart from January’s storm, or when a street light goes out, they have been on constantly in parts of Thomas Street and Tandragee Road area of Portadown since the end of July/beginning of August last year.

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“I have made repeated calls to Transport NI, and all they can tell me that there is a ‘fault’.

“My question is How long does it take to fix a fault?

“This has gone on long enough,” said the resident.

However it appears that the authorities have had a ‘lightbulb moment’ and have decided that the problem needs to be fixed.

A Department for Infrastructure spokesperson said: “The department has been working in conjunction with NIE to have this fault repaired.

Work to complete this repair and have the lights fully operational and functional will take place over the next three weeks.”

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