In Bramley south of Guildford
this GEC Z8896 that still runs mercury has lived a precarious existence for the last few years.
The property it is located outside has been having major building works and it could have been side swiped by delivery lorries - in fact the owners had added some coloured safety netting around its base to make it more visible as the GSV image shows. This was latter replaced with orange netting.
It did survive the assault by the lorries and the work finished earlier this year. But a few months back it was excavated with notice on the barriers stating "being replaced as part of the Surrey Streetlighting PFI."
Then this week the barriers have gone, and the hole filled in but the column is still there and was lit this morning.
I suspect it may be owned by the Parish of Bramley and not on Surrey's inventory. There are are however (PFI) Libras on the same road less than half a mile away. So for the time being it lives on.
Also likely to be "parish" and nearby is this
GEC 5670 also running 80W MBF but rather dim.
During my last few weekly trips through Bramley, I thought, but wasn't sure if that column with the Z8896 had gone. Taking a proper look today, it has and I'm not sure what's happened to it. Being parish rather than council owned, the PFI left it alone in the end. Its well set back from the road, but there are a lot of deep tyre ruts in the grass. I wonder if it has succumbed to a collision with vehicles that were parked/manoeuvring on the verge? Or perhaps the parish had it removed given its obsolete lamp type and didn't think it was worth upgrading.
Luckily the '5670 is still there, and still running its worn MBF lamp. If there has been a reduction in parish assets, perhaps this one still survives as its at a junction - not that it casts much light!