Lidl lights cause misery for residents

A fed-up couple say they struggle to sleep because a supermarket’s lights are being left on all night.

The new Lidl superstore on London Road, Balderton, overlooks the property of Mr Darren Greenwood and his wife, Tracy.

Barring a one-week period, large lights on the side of the store have been left on continually since it opened on March 23 – even though they are supposed to be turned off out-of-hours – and they beam straight into the Greenwoods’ bedroom.

Mr Greenwood, a 50-year-old lorry driver, and his wife, a 52-year-old carer, say their lives have been blighted by the problem.

“On the first day of the store being open we went up to bed, closed the curtains and it was like it was still daylight,” he said.

“I spoke to a contract manager at the store who told me that he didn’t think the lights needed to be on at that time.

“Nothing happened, so my wife spoke to an area manager, who just happened to be at the store at the time. He came in the house to have a look and told us ‘we will get that sorted’.

“Nothing happened after that, either. I spoke to another guy in the store who told me that they would have a word with the electricians, and that the lights were on a timer, but the problem has not gone away.

“It affects my wife more than me, as the lights keep her awake all the time.

“We’ve had to buy black-out blinds, but the light still gets in around the edges.”

'It's a 24/7 problem'

Mr Greenwood contacted Lidl’s customer services team by email around six weeks ago but other than a message to say that the issue was being looked at, no further action was taken.

However, within hours of the Advertiser speaking to the firm last week, Mr Greenwood was contacted – but the lights remain on.

He said: “This has quite a large impact on our lives but Lidl don’t seem interested.

“I am angry because they did turn them off at one stage for about a week, around April time.

“At the time I thought ‘great, everybody’s happy’ but they came back again.

“It’s a 24/7 problem.”

A spokesman for Lidl said: “We were sorry to hear of this matter and can confirm that our customer services team are in touch with the resident directly.

“We operate a building management system to ensure that our lighting is turned off out of hours for the benefit of both our neighbours and the environment.

“Whilst our lighting system has been implemented in accordance with the planning consent we are investigating methods to reduce any potential lighting spillage on neighbouring land.”