'No lights for 13 days straight' - Faulty street lighting in Midlothian sparks safety concerns amid wintry weather as Scottish Power apologises to residents

Scottish Power has apologised to residents of two Midlothian towns suffering from faulty street lighting which has sparked safety fears amid the recent wintry conditions.

Dawn Blackwood, who lives in Moorfoot View in Bonnyrigg, says the problems have been recurring for about a month and that her street was initially without any lights for 13 days straight.

The energy provider has carried out several fuse repairs at a location in the area but this has only provided a temporary fix. Engineers have now reconfigured the network in a bid to ensure less street lighting will go off in future until they can find a permanent solution to the problem, which is yet to be identified.

Residents in Penicuik have also complained about outages in part of Rullion Road as well as in Lowrie Avenue and Cuiken Avenue - but Scottish Power has assured all lighting in the affected locations has now been restored.

Speaking to the Edinburgh Evening News, Dawn said even when the lights were fixed in Bonnyrigg after nearly two weeks, they were back out again within days. However, she says although the lights were sorted again in time for Christmas and New Year, they went off on Monday night and again on Tuesday morning.

The 39-year-old mum, who has reported the issues to Scottish Power and Midlothian Council, said: “The majority of my street is elderly people and I worry for them, especially with all of the ice just now. It’s not safe.”

A Scottish Power spokesperson said: “Following notification from Midlothian Council about faulty street lights in Moorfoot View in Bonnyrigg, we’ve carried out numerous fuse repairs at the location, which have unfortunately only provided a temporary solution. We’re continuing to investigate and actively working to put a permanent fix in place.

“In the meantime, we’ve made changes to the network to minimise the impact of any further outage on the local community.

Dawn is fed up of the recurring problems with lighting in her street. This picture was taken on Tuesday during the latest outage. Pic: Dawn Blackwood.

“Our team has also been on site this morning to repair faulty street lights in multiple locations in Penicuik – these have all now been restored.”

The spokesperson added: “We’re very sorry for any inconvenience caused to local people as a result of these lighting faults.

“Faulty street lights should always be reported to the local council, who will contact us – as appropriate – to investigate. Where multiple street lights are affected, we would always encourage councils to use our emergency contact information so we can provide an immediate response.”

A Midlothian Council spokesperson said: “Both faults in Bonnyrigg and Penicuik are due to Scottish Power separate underground cabling issues.

Another scene of darkness in Moorfoot View, Bonnyrigg. Pic: Dawn Blackwood.

“We have already brought both faults to the attention of Scottish Power and will do so again. Under our service level agreement, once Scottish Power acknowledges our complaint, it has up to 20 days to repair the faults.”

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