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my local council are brilliant at mending street lights.

And not only that, but they send people round randomly to check lights even when they are working fine !

here is a man doing that very thing:
DSC09887.jpg

Often they'll come round the next day to mend them if you report them. Apparently their sub-contractors are required to come round within 5 days once notified.

the people who work in the back offices are really helpful too. i emailed a bloke in the council asking how our street lights switch on as esther had asked me and i had a few hunches but no knowledge.

i got this reply back:

Thank you for your recent enquiry about the switching arrangements for
streetlighting, and this is a question I have been asked before !

All the streetlights maintained by this Authority are either fitted with a
light sensor or are powered from another streetlight that has one.

When light levels fall to a set level, the streetlights are switched on. If
it gets dark enough during a storm they may come on during the day.

The object on top of your streetlight should be one of these sensors, (known
as a photo electric cell).

I hope this information helps.

so there we have it. an informative, yet probably completely boring (unless you love street lamps in which case you probably knew this already) way.