Older woman fall blamed on street light outage

A street light outage in Beechwood Avenue contributed to an older woman falling outside her home on Thursday night, says Sinn Fein Councillor, Kevin Campbell.
Sinn Fein Councillor, Kevin Campbell pictured outside Beechwood Court.Sinn Fein Councillor, Kevin Campbell pictured outside Beechwood Court.
Sinn Fein Councillor, Kevin Campbell pictured outside Beechwood Court.

The older woman, who does not wish to be named, lives in nearby retirement accommodation and stumbled and fell on her way to the local shop.

“It’s totally and utterly unacceptable that street lights should not be working in an area where a high number of older people live,” said Colr. Campbell.

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Colr. Campbell estimates that more than 20 street lights in Beechwood Avenue and Westway are not working as a result of the outage. Colr. Campbell said the issue was first brought to his attention by residents last week.

“I contacted TransportNI three times this week and I only got talking to them today [Friday].

“They told me that they only handle the complaint and then pass it on. TransportNI told me that this is the responsibility of the Northern Ireland Electricity (N.I.E.) because the fault lies with the supply.”

Colr Campbell added: “I contacted (N.I.E.) to get to the bottom of this and I am currently waiting for an update.”

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A spokesperson for N.I.E. told the ‘Journal’ they are “aware” of the light outage.

“We were made aware of the fault by the Department for Infrastructure (D.f.I.) on the June 27.

“Our engineers have carried out an investigation and have assigned a team to deal with the fault as soon as possible.

“We received a call from Councillor Kevin Campbell this morning and we’ve since gone back to his office with a full update,” the spokesperson said.

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