People living around Pendleton and Raleigh Way in Ravensthorpe, said that the street lights had not been working for more than three months.

Some residents became too afraid to go out at night because of the black-out, and one resident even had his car attacked by vandals.

But after getting in touch with The Evening Telegraph, repairs to the faulty electrics causing the problems have begun.

Before the repairs were started, Alan Hill, who lives in Pendleton, said: "It has been totally black at night.

"We have counted 21 lights that are not working, and a lot of residents are frightened to go out at night because it is so dark.

"And the final straw was last weekend, when vandals threw a load of green paint over my Renault Laguna in the early hours of Saturday.

"I am not sure if the car is a write-off yet, but the fact there were no street lights on meant it was an easy target."

However, today, he said: "We have had the engineers out today, and some of the lights are back working, which is all we wanted."

And councillor Gul Nawaz, who represents the area, added: "The council has been aware of the problem, and it has been a priority job.

"We have been working closely with the lighting officer at the city council, and, hopefully, the issue has been resolved."

Today, city council spokesman Mike Lennox said that the problem with the lights had been more complex than when other street lights stopped working.

He said: "Under normal circumstances, when a street light is not working, if a bulb has blown, for example, we will contact our contractor and repair the light within 10 days.

"However, the lights at Pendleton have some specific problems which needed more time to sort out.

"There is a problem with the cable, which needs to be excavated for us to fix the problem.

"And the feeder pillar, which is a type of junction box for the lights, also needs replacing."