Residents in Queensway, Melksham say they are being kept in the dark after several pleas to Wiltshire Council to fix the street lights have gone unanswered.

Robin Lockwood, 67, of Queensway says he is “fed up” after repeatedly calling the council asking for the lights, which he said stopped working two months ago, to be fixed.

With the dark winter nights the pensioner says it is a safety risk to people walking along the road and that one of his neighbours had told him she tripped on the pavement because she could not see.

“It’s got beyond a joke,” Mr Lockwood said. “The first time I rang them they said they would find out information and get back to me. I was waiting by my mobile 20 minutes later and they still hadn’t rung.

“I rang them three weeks later and the woman asked if I had reported it before and I said yes. She said there was no record of it, she then said she would look into it, but it was down to the electricity board to sort it out.

“I think there have been complaints from other people. My neighbour who is 85 can’t see very well and she struggles to go out the door after 4.30pm.

“It’s not safe. The council are about as useful as a chocolate button in a red oven.”

A Wiltshire Council spokesman said: “We have been contacted by residents and we have communicated these concerns to SSE. We know that SSE is investigating a permanent fix for the fault.”

Scottish and Southern Electric said: “We are doing everything we can to establish the cause and have engineers on site to locate the faulty underground cable and we are carrying out tests.

“We would like to apologise to local residents and we are working as quickly as possible to fix it.”