A woman fed up with a "dangerous" broken lamppost on her street has hung a flower basket to "brighten up the eye sore".

Rita Brennan, 81, who lives on Mornington Road in Leytonstone had become so distressed by a broken lamp post that has protruded onto the pathway of her road since August that she decided to take action.

In November, Mrs Brennan reached out to Waltham Forest Council where she claims it said the issue would be remedied in five to seven days.

However, it was not fixed, and now Mrs Brennan is worried about the potential dangers the post imposes to the residents in the area.

Her son, Kevin, 49, said: "This has been a real issue for the area for months now. There's a danger that people walking around the corner could be severely hurt by the post, especially in the dark, as it really protrudes across the pathway.

"My mum has spoken with another resident in the area who uses a pushchair for her child and she struggles to pass the post on the pathway.

"My father used a wheelchair before he died and his chair would certainly would not have been able to have fit passed the post on the path - this means mum's with pushchairs and disabled people are being forced to walk in the road to get around the post.

"It's dangerous and unnecessary."

According to Mrs Brennan many other lampposts on the street also do not work which means the

Kevin and his mother first moved to Leytonstone when he was 18, more than thirty years ago.

"My mum was so fed up with the broken lamppost so she put a hanging basket on it to make it look a bit prettier.

"The metal post is quite dangerous because it's actually quite sharp. If anyone were to accidentally hit it, they could be hurt quite badly.

"There's a school down the road as well which means children are being put at risk with the post.

"If it was leaning any further over it would mean everyone would have to use the road to pass that part of the pavement."

Mr Brennan's post on the Leytonstone Life Facebook group has been liked over 180 times.

Cllr Clyde Loakes, Deputy Leader and Cabinet Member for the Environment, said: “This lamp-post was destroyed when a car being driven dangerously mounted the pavement and smashed into it – thankfully, no passersby were injured.

"As a council we usually aim to complete basic repairs within five to seven days when it is within our power to do so.

"However, upon detailed investigation of the destruction of this lamp-post we recognised that it would require specialist equipment which had to be ordered in and would involve UK Power Networks - in short, it was largely out of our hands.

“I chased this matter in early December and UK Power Networks have confirmed they will look to reconnect the power supply in early February so that the repair work can be completed.

“That said, can I thank Rita for hacking the lamp- post remains with the hanging basket and cheering up our days!”