WOMEN are at risk because dozens of street lights are unlit on an Army base which has seen attacks in the past, a driver claimed.

Donald Nicholson, of Scotton, Catterick Garrison, said that two roads at the garrison had a total of at least 32 lights out.

A former soldier, Mr Nicholson, 64, works for a company which regularly transports female shift staff to and from work.

He said that some street lights had been out for several months, and the dark autumn nights raised the risk of attacks.

Twenty-one lights were out between Scotton Gardens and Helles Barracks, and 11 were unlit on Loos Road, near Somme Barracks, he said.

An Army spokeswoman said the military were aware of the problem, which was linked to a major underground cable fault, and engineers were working to identify and rectify it. The fault was reported two weeks ago, she said.

Mr Nicholson said that he would take up the issue with Sir Richard Dannatt, head of the British Army, if the lights are not fixed promptly.

"I collect young women to take them to catering duties at the barracks and some of them are waiting in the dark at 5.30am," he said.

"There have been assaults in Catterick Garrison over the past few years. I am a father and a grandfather, and I do not want to have to identify my granddaughter when she has been attacked, raped or murdered in the dark."

Some speeding offences were calculated by using the distance between lampposts, which was almost impossible when they were not lit, added Mr Nicholson, who served in the Army for 42 years.

He said he saw an engineer repairing lights behind the wire at Helles Barracks, but not those on the roadside.

Police have appealed for witnesses several times in the past few years following late-night attacks on women at Catterick Garrison. In March 2005, a 20-year-old was sexually assaulted at 1am and four months later there was a similar attack on a 17-year-old girl. Another teenager reported a sex attack in the early hours in January 2004.