THE street lights are back on in Shelley Street but no one knows why they went out and no one claims to have fixed them.

And it looks as though there is no link between the blackout and a fire which broke out in the power supply to the former Radnor Street Stores nearby.

Hellen Barnes, spokesman for Swindon Council, said the problem in the Old Town street was reported to Southern Electric on February 18.

"One of their engineers went out on February 26 and the street lights are now working," she said. "Swindon Services haven't done anything to the lights."

Susan Scobie, of Southern Electric, confirmed: "Our engineer went out on February 26 and the lights were working.

"We don't know what the cause of the problem was. The fuses were fine at the sub station and it is all a bit of a mystery. As far as we are concerned there is nothing wrong with the lights.

"The former store which had the fire is on a different circuit, so there can be no connection between the fire and the problem, it is just a coincidence."

The fire at the former Radnor Street Stores occurred on February 8 and blacked out power inside.

Owner Edward Sikorski, 80, said a similar fire occurred when he bought the building 30 years ago.

Of the latest incident he said: "We heard a bang and it sounded like someone had thrown a grenade in there. I saw flames shooting from the fusebox."

Mr Sikorski's wife Irena, 60, said: "Half of our property, on the Shelley Street side, was without light for two nights while Southern Electric worked into the early hours.

"The problem has now been sorted out and we hope everything's okay now, but the lights do flash sometimes and you think it's going to happen again.

"When the lights went out the whole house was shaking. Even the phone went off and I couldn't dial 999."

Concetta Fiore, 66, who lives in Curtis Street but provides care for her brother-in-law in Shelley Street, said: "The lights are back on again in Shelley Street.

" It was very dangerous before because it was hard to see in the dark and anyone could have hidden themselves and jumped out at you."