Drivers say large pothole damaged their vehicles

Multiple motorists have reported flat tyres after hitting a large pothole which one drivers said "shook" her car.

National Highways confirmed that at 19:18 GMT on Thursday traffic officers came across three vehicles on the hard shoulder of the M3 near Basingstoke, with drivers saying they had hit a pothole on the A303 entry slip road.

The highways authority said its maintenance team repaired the pothole last night but the slip road remains closed for safety reasons and further assessment.

"I've never felt anything like it," said Sarah Dillow from Basingstoke, who was driving home from Andover with her daughter when she hit the hole.

"In terms of hitting something on the road, I knew it was a big hole," she said.

She said her daughter was "frightened" and as they drove on they noticed more than 10 cars pulled over at the side of the motorway.

"I said to my daughter 'that's no coincidence, that's something to do with what we just hit'," she said.

Dillow said she pulled over at a nearby supermarket and called the AA but was told the tyre was not repairable.

"It's now sat on our drive with a completely flat tyre, waiting for it to be replaced," she said.

She added that the recovery driver told her there had be "36 cars impacted" by the pothole.

Dillow expressed her frustration with the situation and said it "was clearly something that has grown and grown, to the point where it was significantly damaging people's cars".

Cheryl Hart from Basingstoke said calling it a "pothole is an understatement".

"I noticed some debris on the road at the same time as I hit the hole," she said.

"I then saw about six cars pulled over with their hazard lights on and realised that they obviously had punctures."

She said she managed to get her car home but on Friday morning her tyre was completely flat.

Hart said she will be putting in a claim to National Highways and she feels "let down" by the authority.

She said: "According to others, this hole has had a few temporary repairs previously. The outcome could have been far worse than it was, luckily there were no crashes."

A National Highways spokesperson said: "Safety is our primary concern and we set stringent standards for pothole repairs on our roads. We regularly carry out inspections to help reduce the potential for potholes to form. We also encourage members of the public to tell us if they find any potholes so that we can repair them as swiftly as possible.

"When potholes do occur, we repair them as soon as possible and any defects that pose a risk to safety are repaired within 24 hours."

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