Council in the dark over traffic light repairs on one of its busiest roads

A man driving a suspected stolen blue Ford Mondeo hit the lights on Freetown Way, Hull, close to the junction with Caroline Street, at about 11.15pm on Monday, February 4.

Signs warning the lights are no longer working have been up ever since, and Hull Council said yesterday it was “still assessing” the damage.

The crash was reported by a firefighter from Hull Central fire station, who then went to make the vehicle safe and warned the lights were still live and should be disconnected.

The driver, a man aged 35 from Hull, suffered minor injuries in the crash but ran off.

He was later arrested and charged with a number of offences, including drink-driving, failing to stop after an accident, driving while disqualified, aggravated vehicle taking, using a vehicle without third-party insurance, and using threatening or abusive behaviour with intent.

Graham Hall, the council’s assistant head of service for transport and asset management, said: “We are currently looking into the extent of the damage caused to the traffic lights on Freetown Way and until the repairs have been made, we are unable to calculate the costs of repair. If possible we will try to recover the costs.”

The £4.2m road, which runs between Spring Bank and North Bridge, is one of the main routes connecting the east and west of the city and is particularly busy during rush-hour.

It is named after Hull’s twin city Freetown, the capital of Sierra Leone in West Africa, and was opened on June 17, 1986, in a ceremony attended by the High Commissioner of Sierra Leone.

Hull was the first town or city in Europe to form such a relationship with a country from the developing world in 1980.

Links remain strong, both at civic and cultural levels, and are celebrated each year.