Members of Hillside Residents' Association have been left feeling in the dark over the replacement of street lights in an Abbots Langley street.

According to the association's chairman, Peter Scott, residents in the area have been feeling increasingly vulnerable after two street lights went out in School Mead in October 2014.

Although the residents' group complained to Hertfordshire County Council's highways contractors, Ringway, they have since been waiting five months for the lights to be replaced.

Mr Scott said: "After weekly calling we sent an email to highways in January, but they just haven't bothered to get back to us. Residents, particularly the older ones, are feeling more and more vulnerable.

"We feel like we're banging our heads up against a brick wall."

But Steven Giles-Medhurst, county, district and parish councillor for Leavesden explained that street lights were out across the county, not just around the Hillside estate.

He said Liberal Democrat councillors had been receiving emails from the council stating that street lights would be repaired within four weeks, but in a significant number of cases repairs had not been completed after 12 weeks or more.

He said: "There are particular problems in A, B and C roads and residential roads, who are having to wait twice as long at the moment, as there is no time limit at all for repairs on these.

"We've also got emails from Herts County Council and Ringway saying they are under resourced and can't cope with the number of defects.

"It's an utter mess, it's got to change. It's a disaster at this time of year - it's almost as if they're waiting for the clocks to go back for everything to be ok.

Kevin Carrol, Ringway Divisional Manager working on behalf of Hertfordshire County Council, responded on Wednesday, February 25.

He said: "The two faulty street lights were reported in December last year. We have a crew attending the site later this week to replace the lights."