A MOTORIST is calling for lights on a roundabout near the M65 to be fixed immediately to avoid a potential crash.

Stephen Bagwell, 50, said the area near the roundabout at junction eight at Accrington had been ‘pitch black’ for around six months meaning drivers could not see what was going on around them.

He wrote to Balfour Beatty, which maintains the stretch on behalf of the Highways Agency, and was told the problem was down to a ‘serious cable fault’. Mr Bagwell, who works on the Altham Industrial Estate, said: “It is really hard to see if two cars brake and then they speed up.

“It is supposed to be lit, but now when you come off the roundabout, it is hard to see.

“It is pitch black at night and it is dangerous.” Warehouse worker Mr Bagwell, who uses the road five times a week to travel to work from his home in Bury, received an email from Balfour Beatty after making a complaint about how dark the road was.

Customer care assistant Dianne Bate said in the reply: “We have identified a serious cable fault at this location that is affecting a number of lighting columns.” The Lancashire Telegraph launched its Turn The Lights On campaign following the death of Burnley-born Mark Burgess, 39, who was killed when he crashed his car on the motorway in November last year.

An investigation found Mr Burgess, of Abbey Village, was two-and-a-half times over the legal drink drive limit and his accident would not have been prevented had there been lights.

But Mr Singleton, senior coroner for Blackburn, Hyndburn and the Ribble Valley, said those caught up in the ‘carnage’ after the incident would have had a chance of avoiding the debris if the lights were on.

The coroner wrote to the Highways Agency inviting bosses to reconsider their decision to turn off the lights.