Sasha Rodoy, 70, filed a complaint with Barnet Council after LEDs 'blinded' her. Four-year battle with the authority ends as it agrees to swap lights in her street. READ MORE:A woman with light sensitivity has won a four-year battle with her local council to have 'blinding' LED lights in her street replaced with a dimmer alternative.
Barnet Council has finally agreed to replace the 4000 Kelvin bulbs in her street with 2200K bulbs, similar in hue to old-style sodium vapour lights. It is unclear how much the change will cost the council. ‹ Slide me › Photographs published by Essex Highways - unrelated to Ms Rodoy's case - in 2017 show the difference between old-style sodium vapour bulbs and new LEDs
The PHE report was widely circulated after it appeared to suggest that long-term exposure to the wavelength of light emitted by LED bulbs could leave people with a condition akin to 'permanent jet lag'. A 2022 University of Exeter paper warned the proliferation of the energy efficient bulbs was having 'substantial biological impacts' across Europe - affecting the behaviour of animals drawn to lights such as bats.But both scientists' understanding of LEDs and the technology itself are improving all the time, and some councils are responding to the advancements in both.
'It hurt my eyes as most LEDs and sunlight do - even the reflection of light on a car will blind me because of my photophobia. But this may rise if other residents of the London borough, population 389,000, launch their own challenges - which, complaints data suggests, could happen.