• Service Information
• Frequently Asked Questions

Torbay Council is responsible for the maintenance of street lighting. The council maintains more than 16,800 street lights and illuminated signs throughout the bay to ensure that we reduce the risk of night-time accidents, improve public safety and conserve energy on a continuous basis.

These services are achieved by a maintenance and inspection program which covers the vast majority of street lights within the county.

Fault Reporting

When contacting us please describe the nature and location of the fault in as much detail as possible.  It is useful if you leave your contact details should one of our engineers need to clarify the exact location of a fault. Click on the link in Do It Online to report a fault online.

New - Fault Reporting via SMS Text Messaging

You can now report a faulty street light using SMS Text Messaging: Just text - LIGHT and the following details in a maximum of 160 characters to 07786 202800 (Standard network charges apply).

• fault details
• the road or street it is in
• the locality and/or town e.g. Watcombe or Roselands, Paignton  
• the number painted on the street lighting column or exact location e.g. opposite number 11 Grange Road, Paignton

You can also report the following faults via this service using the LIGHT prefix:

• Illuminated Sign
• Illuminated Bollard
• Belisha Beacons on zebra and pelican crossings

Repairs

If a street light is damaged it may be dangerous, especially if any wiring can be seen. You should not attempt to help by covering up or touching the wires. Please contact us immediately so that we can make it safe as quickly as possible.

We aim to attend to emergencies within two or 24 hours depending on the severity of the fault. Almost all straight forward repairs will be completed within five calendar days.

Sometimes a fault is due to a failure in the electricity supply. In these cases the repair is not directly under our control and we have to instruct the Western Power Distribution Board to carry out the necessary work. This could take up to three weeks.

Related Documents

To view any published Related Documents for this service you will require the appropriate software. To download this software please see our documents help page. All links to documents will open in a new window. To request documents and files in an alternative format please contact us using the contact information provided on this page.