Pitch black underpass with broken lights is a safety hazard in Milton Keynes say residents

All seven lights in the underpass at Olde Bell Lane in Loughton have been broken for several weeks.

But when one dog walker complained to the council she was "terrified" to use it at night, she was told not enough people had complained.

"I was told that three or more people need to make a complaint and if and when they do it takes 28 days to be looked into," she said.

The underpass has been the scene of anti-social behaviour in the past and residents fear the darkness could attract more criminals.

"It is just so scary and it's gone on long enough. Can you help me before someone is hurt?" asked the dog walker.

She took a video of herself walking her dog after dark through the underpass. It showed just the pinprick light of her phone against total blackness and gives a running commentary on how scary the underpass is.

The MK Citizen sent the video to MK Council and asked when the lights could be repaired.

Today (Wednesday) a council spokesman said engineers would be on site this afternoon and the lights would be working by tomorrow night.

She said: "We are aware of this issue and have been conducting some investigative work in this area to find out what the problem is. The lights here are fed from the feeder pillar located on the V4. This is one of the old generation feeder pillars which needs to be replaced as it is no longer providing a power supply to this section of lights.

"To get these lights back on we need to connect them to another power source. We have engineers on site this afternoon to look at the existing power supplies and to determine where we can connect them.

"Another street lighting engineer is scheduled to attend the site and carry out the work tomorrow."