Street '¨light'¨vandals'¨'˜dicing '¨with death'

Sinn Fein councillor Dermot Nicholl says it might seem like “a bit of craic”, but it’s “absolute madness”.

The shocking news emerged after Colr Nicholl received reports from local people about street lights being out in recent days in St. Anne’s Gardens, Meadowbank Place and St Columba’s Walk.

After he’d reported the outages to TransportNI, Colr Nicholl said it emerged the outages were actually down to vandalism. Those responsible were climbing up the lamp posts to deliberately put the lights out. He said between 20 to 30 lights were knocked off.

“These lampposts are some 15 to 20 feet high and whoever is doing this, well, they’re dicing with death. One slip and the consequences could be fatal.

“What might seem like a bit of craic or recreation, in their eyes, is absolute madness. It’s so reckless, it’s beyond belief,” said Colr Nicholl. “It’s also the fact that where these lights have been put out is where a lot of older residents live.

“We’re well into the dark evenings now and older people feel safer when the lights are on. I’ve been told that TransportNI are considering greasing the poles at the top so the vandals can’t do anymore damage. Hopefully, that will put an end to it.”

A spokesperson for the Department for Infrastructure said they received two reports of vandalism of lights in Greysteel, last Thursday and Friday.

“On both occasions technicians attended and replaced the photocells. No further incidents have been reported,” added the spokesperson.