Lots of folk crossed the Ha'Penny Hatch last night in pitch black darkness on their way to Blackheath fireworks. With the moon hidden in cloud and not one of the seven lamps working on the Lewisham side of the pedestrian path leading to the bridge, it was a spooky, if not potentially dangerous, experience.
Street lights are usually numbered so that faults can easily be reported on Lewisham's webpage where you should also be able to track the fault. There are, however, emergency situations in which you can call the Croydon & Lewisham Street Lighting service on 0800 028 5986.
"Three or more adjacent street lights unlit" constitutes an emergency, as does "damaged apparatus posing a risk to the public". So we've called them, got a log number, and look forward to the situation being remedied as soon as possible.
Unfortunately, none of the lamps are numbered and there's no postcode for the Ha'Penny Hatch, so the online reporting form is somewhat useless. Nor is the river crossing marked on most maps by name. This has resulted in the police being unable to locate it when responding to reports of crimes being committed there. We hope the Street Lighting team can find it.
Regular users of the path will know that many of the lamps on Ha'Penny Hatch are often unlit or broken on either side of the bridge. You can report faulty lights on the Greenwich side of the bridge (where the lamps are also unnumbered) here (or call 020 8854 8888 in an 'emergency'). Next time, instead of moaning about it and avoiding using the path, try getting in touch with either of the councils responsible instead of waiting for someone else to do it. This applies especially to the person who just told us there is now also a light out on the Greenwich side.
UPDATE Wednesday 7th November:
We're pleased to report the lights on the Lewisham side have been fixed!
I traced the conduit that supplies the lamps on the railway arches leading to the Deptford side of the bridge. The conduit disappears underground just the other side of Creekside, where there's a 'cartoon mole' bit of tarmac patch leading to street lamp number H2082; you could try quoting that number... or just injure yourself in the dark and phone Ambulance Chasers Direct...
ReplyDeleteSan, that number was provided to the Croydon & Lewisham Lighting Service, along with its adjacent lamps 2083 and 13 when the call was made on Sunday to their Out of Hours service.
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