WATCH: Women afraid to walk Swindon streets because of broken streetlights

After the shocking details of the Sarah Everard case emerged, the Adver asked readers what should be done to help women and girls feel safer in Swindon.

A number who commented on Facebook said street lighting should be improved and that broken lamps needed to be fixed more quickly. 

Hayley Marie Andrews had a panic attack last week when she thought about her walk to work. She uses a cycle track which links Kembrey Park to the BMW plant and the footage she posted of her route shows a dark wooded area. 

She said: “It’s very unlike me. I used to think I’d be fine but definitely since the Sarah Everard case it’s been different.” 

Hayley reported the broken street light to the council more than a week ago but says she has not yet had a response. She has noticed two lamps are broken in the area. 

Andrea Glass said five lights on her street have been broken for six weeks. This has plunged her end of Boscombe Road into darkness and leaves her daughter feeling unsafe when she walks home from work.

She said: “It’s absolutely pitch black. We desperately need our street lights.”

Swindon Borough Council revealed last week a £500,000 grant from the government will be spent on safety measures for women and girls, including installing additional street lighting and CCTV.

Hayley needs to walk through the cycle track to get to work because it is the only convenient route. 

She noticed the lights were broken because it is now dark when she heads to work at 6.20am.

The 32-year-old said: “The light at the beginning of the path is on but it’s out in the open so it’s safe there. Once you walk in, there are two which don’t work.  

“I walk through there with my keys and phone in my hand as protection and sometimes I pretend to be on the phone.

“It’s eerie because it’s secluded and there are a lot of bushes. Anyone could be lurking there so it makes me nervous.

“I had a major panic attack on Wednesday and I had to get my partner to walk me through that part.

“Something came over me that morning and I felt really nervous going through there alone.”

Andrea , 67, lives on the same street as her 45-year-old daughter, who reported five broken street lights in August. 

They were told the lights would be fixed by the end of the September. The council contacted them on Wednesday to notify them that the lights were working – but they were still off on Thursday.

Andrea’s daughter works at a nearby shop and it is now dark when she walks home from her shift.    

Andrea, who has lived on the street for 43 years. said: “I live on my own and you can’t see if there’s anyone hanging about outside.

“We live in the town, not in the countryside and it’s ridiculous. I’ve never known them to be out for this long.

Boscombe Road on Thursday evening at 6.30pm

“I used to walk home at 1am 20 years ago but it never bothered me because there was always street lighting and I never felt unsafe. 

“Lately, it’s all gone downhill and I wouldn’t feel comfortable doing the same now.”

A Swindon Borough Council spokesman said: “We take the safety of our residents incredibly seriously.

“It can also take longer to turn some of the lights back on because of a fault with the underground electrical supply. When this happens we have to log the fault with SSE who then schedule in a repair.

“On a positive note, we are more than half way through our LED street light replacement programme which will replace all our sodium bulbs with brighter, more efficient lights.”