MOTORISTS have been driving along a stretch of the A40 in darkness for nearly two years although their woes may soon be over as repair work is scheduled for early February.

The reasons for the delay in repairing the lights between the exits for Uxbridge and Denham remains contentious, with a number of agencies involved in sorting the problem.

A stretch of about 15 lights failed on the busy dual carriageway in March 2010, reducing visibility for cars travelling in both directions.

A defective transformer has been blamed for the mini black-out the responsibility for fixing the fault lies with Scottish and Southern Electric (SSE).

But the power company says it has been waiting for permission to close one lane of the road.

The Highways Agency is responsible for maintaining the busy dual carriageway and when contacted by the Gazette it said it had heard from SSE that same day.

A spokesman said: Safety is our top priority and as soon as our contractor was made aware in March 2010 that the street lights on the A40, between the exits for Uxbridge and Denham, were not working, an inspection was carried out.

This revealed the problem was a defective transformer, which is the responsibility of energy company SSE, who were immediately contacted.

We received a request on Thursday, January 12, 2012 from SSE to carry out the repair work; this was granted and the work is programmed to take place between 30 January and 5 February 2012.