THE Advertiser has helped calm the nerves of worried pensioners in Pinehurst.

Kathleen Parker, of Mulberry Grove contacted the paper to complain about faulty streetlights in her road.

Mrs Parker said that she had contacted Swindon Council several times over the last six weeks to fix the problem, with little success.

But a phone call from the Adver to the council has seemingly resolved the problem.

The 79-year-old said: "Anything could have happened at any time.

"I kept on phoning them, but they didn't seem to worry at all. They did not seem to care.

"Thankfully the Adver succeeded where I failed, although the lights are not as bright as they were."

Mrs Parker says Mulberry Grove is home to a number of pensioners and many of them are concerned about the level of crime in the area.

And she said she is scared to go out alone.

"There is an old lady who lives on the road who is 92," Mrs Parker said. "I hate the thought of her going up there at night.

"She waits by one lamppost for a friend of hers, but it's so dark you can hardly see."

The council initially sent someone out to fix the lights, but as soon as one was repaired another bulb went. "They said they'd look into it again and they said in five working days," said Mrs Parker.

"Well that was on Thursday and there was still no sign of anybody over the weekend."

On the first occasion the pensioner rang the council she was told they would need to know the numbers on the lights in question to be able to help.

"I said to them I'm in a wheelchair I cannot do that on my own," she said. Mrs Parker and her husband, who both have mobility problems, eventually obtained the numbers, but only now have the council completed the repairs.

A recent walk back from the shops became an ordeal for the elderly couple.

Mrs Parker recalled: "I was scared stiff because it was getting dark. I said to my husband to keep close together because I do not like this.

"It is a very badly lit street as it is, you can't see anything at all."

A spokeswoman for Swindon Council confirmed the lights had been fixed. She said: "Two streetlights which were not working in Mulberry Grove have been fixed today (Tuesday) - within two working days after the problem was first reported.

"In previous weeks four other lights on separate occasions in the same street have also required new lamps and on each occasion this work has been done within five working days of it being reported.

"None of these replacements were related and the council has solved the problem as soon as possible.

"It is not unusual to have a series of lamp failures in the same street if the lights were originally installed at the same time."