Lamp lights way for burglar

EASY access: the new lamp post on Raper Street, which allowed a burglar to reach an upstairs window

A MAN who scared off a would-be burglar is urging the council to stop lighting the way for thieves.

The 29 year old was left “angry and concerned” after catching someone attempting to break into his Greenacres home — after climbing the newly-installed street lamp outside the window.

The drama unfolded when he woke to find someone outside his bedroom window at 11.30pm.

The Raper Street resident said: “I looked out and the man started sliding back down the lamp post.

“I’m sure if I’d not woken up he’d have climbed in through the window. When the weather’s hot you want to have your window open, but now I’m too worried.”

He added: “I lie in bed just wondering if it’s going to happen again. There are a lot of elderly people and families in the street. The posts along the street are too close to houses.”

The new light is one of 19,000 installed by Oldham and Rochdale councils. The positioning keeps them as far from traffic — and thus a cause of accident injury — as possible.

Following the Chronicle’s intervention, the council has promised to apply measures such as special anti-vandal paint to the lights.

The would-be offender is described as white and in his 30s, with ginger hair. He was wearing a black bubble coat, blue jeans and white trainers.


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