A man has spoken of how the faulty lights on his road have left him and his neighbours fearing for their safety.

The streetlamps on Aldridge Avenue, Stanmore, have been out of action since before August 12 despite numerous inquiries into their condition from those who live there.

One resident, 39-year-old Mahendra Halai, explained how the situation has been so bad that, when darkness falls, people are anxious about getting into their homes.

“If you arrive back and it’s dark, once you switch your car lights off, it’s pitch black between you and your house,” he said.

“You don’t know who’s there or who could be hiding round the corner. I know we’re not in war-torn Syria where you could be killed when you step outside but we don’t feel safe.”

He added that his wife refuses to go out after dinner and that one of his neighbours has been particularly affected as he has to go out during the early hours of the morning.

His direct neighbours, an elderly couple, one of whom is partially sighted, have been burgled during one of the evenings, something he says is “hardly surprising”.

“If you don’t have the streetlights on, you don’t have a deterrent – it will encourage robberies,” he said.

“This could all have been avoided if people had just communicated better. If they’d told us when they were being fixed, we could have dealt with that but I haven’t had a response.

“We’re not asking for much, it’s not unreasonable to expect that your lights work.”

Harrow Council said that the fault has been noted and that the UK Power Network has been contacted to carry out the necessary repairs. It anticipates that it will be sorted by the end of the week.

However, those on the street want assurances that, if the same thing were to happen again, the issue would be resolved in a much swifter fashion.