Illustrator draws colourful creatures in potholes

An illustrator is trying to see the lighter side of the ongoing issue of potholes through art.

Hannah Clark draws colourful, fuzzy creatures on photos of the potholes in Wombourne, Staffordshire, and posts them on social media.

Road users have told the BBC that potholes in Shropshire and Herefordshire have been worse over the winter. Councils said they were facing backlogs, and were seeing more holes due to the wet weather.

Clarke said she started the drawings as a fun way to raise awareness of the issue.

"When they [the creatures] find a pothole they find something interesting to do in it or around it," she said.

"They've been swimming when its rained and the potholes were filled with water, they discovered the pothole where they think the asteroid landed and killed the dinosaurs off."

Meanwhile, in nearby Penn, on the Staffordshire-Wolverhampton border, residents said they felt they were being ignored by the council. Butts Road had two holes filled, they said, but the rest of the street was left.

"The quality of the repairs are scandalous on all levels - you patch up a road, in the next three months, six months, the road is back to what it was, if not worse," said the area's councillor, Celia Hibbert.

A spokesperson for Wolverhampton City Council said prolonged rainfall and repeated freezing and thawing had caused substantial damage to road surfaces.

"Our highways crews are carrying out repairs 24/7, but importantly, we are also focused on delivering further resurfacing and other extensive improvements on dozens more roads across the city once the weather improves - including Butts Road."

It added that the work was part of a £10m investment into its highways network for 2026-27.

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