'Bad potholes are taking cars off the road'

4 hours ago

Evie LakeNorth East and Cumbria

News image — Pete Whalley's car said his car was written off after hitting a pothole in Rothbury on Tuesday

Steven Bridgett A blue car that has been smashed at the front with the front wheel at an angle at a junction. Beside it is a road sign which has been knocked over. There is road behind it with a stone wall at the side. There is a grass verge to the left and a white van and yellow skip parked behind it. — Pete Whalley's car said his car was written off after hitting a pothole in Rothbury on Tuesday

A pothole which a driver said caused him to crash and write off his car had been reported to a council 20 times, a councillor has said.

Pete Whalley was driving with his two dogs in Rothbury on Tuesday when he hit a pothole on the B6341, damaging his wheel and ploughing into a road sign.

Northumberland County Council said it had been alerted to the pothole and others in the vicinity on 28 January, and it was repaired the day after the crash.

Conservative councillor Mark Mather, cabinet member for roads and highways, said the council had had 2,715 potholes reported since the start of the year and blamed the "impact of recent severe winter weather".

Whalley said luckily he was not travelling very quickly when he hit the pothole, and the airbags did not deploy.

"With the rain, you can't even tell that there are potholes there," he said.

The holidaymaker from Lytham St Annes, in Lancashire, said he was now more than £500 out of pocket after getting a hire car, but was worried about driving it in case he damaged it on another pothole.

Malcolm Fairbairn A large and deep pothole on the side of a country road that extends to the middle of the carriageway. There is gravel strewn around the road with grassy hills on either side of the road. Hills can be seen in the distance. — Steven Bridgett said the Upper Coquet Valley road was a "disgrace"

Independent councillor for Rothbury Steven Bridgett said the pothole had been reported to the council 20 times before the crash.

He said two vans had been badly damaged on the same stretch of road on Monday and he was assisting them and Whalley to make a claim against the council for the cost of the damage.

"The potholes are that bad vehicles are being taken off the road as a result of it," he said.

"It is horrendous and it is not getting any better."

Bridgett said the problem extended to Upper Coquetdale, with the Upper Coquet Valley road between Alwinton and the Scottish Border particularly bad.

"You can't even call it a road anymore," he said.

"Half the road is literally gone, it is an absolute disgrace the state of that road."

Malcolm Fairbairn Three smaller potholes on the road which is covered in mud. — Northumberland County Council said a team would visit the site this week for repairs

He said school transport providers had contacted the council to say they could not afford to keep sending their buses unless the problem was fixed because of the damage being caused.

Mather said the council was expecting to have a team on site later in the week for "further permanent repairs" and discussions had been had with Forestry England for "longer-term improvements" to the road.

Mather added external resources had been brought in to manage demand.

The Conservative councillor said more money would be spent on minor and rural roads as part of the annual local transport plan.

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