Motorists left to count cost of pothole accidents in Gloucestershire
MOTORISTS in Gloucestershire claim the county's pothole-riddled roads are burning a massive hole in their pockets.
More than a month on from the snow, they claim the town's roads are in a poorer state than ever.
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Pothole misery
Covered in deep holes and fissures – some as deep as six inches – they are causing thousands of pounds of repairs for punctures, dented bodywork and damaged suspensions.
Taxi drivers, who spend most of their working days on the road, are among the worst-affected people.
Hetul Damodar, 33, who works for Starline Taxis, said: "The roads don't seem to be getting any better and it's causing a lot of problems.
"The suspension on my vehicle has been damaged from colliding with so many potholes, and lots of other drivers have been affected, too.
"It has made it even harder for us. Aside from the fact that business is quiet, it is costing us money to even keep our cars on the road."
Last month, it was revealed that taxi drivers had compiled a catalogue of the town's most pothole-riddled routes.
Townsend Street and Devon Avenue were cited as among the worst roads, with 55 others listed as unfit for driving. Vehicle breakdown and recovery services across the town said they were at full stretch dealing with pothole-related accidents.
Dan Lane, assistant manager at Exhaust, Tyres and Batteries at Kingsditch Trading Estate, said: "We have been pretty stretched over the last few weeks.
"Whereas we would normally fit anything between 60 and 100 tyres in a week, at the moment we are doing well over 120.
"The roads are pretty dangerous in some areas and it's almost impossible for motorists to avoid the potholes."
Martin Griffiths, manager of Yeates Garage in Prestbury Road, added: "We have been extremely busy with repair works since the cold snap. Lots of people are coming in with punctures or suspension problems. The roads are in a worse state than this time last year."
Ben Woodward, manager of Bathwick Tyres in Great Western Road, Gloucester, said they had seen a huge increase in pothole-related damage.
“We’ve had quite a few recently – a lot more than normal. People have been in with problems with their tracking and tyres and even damaged springs.
“We have someone in with pothole damage about two or three times a day. Usually people come in with problems like that about once a week but with the roads the way they are, we are getting more problems than we have ever had.”
Mike White, assistant manager at Gloucester Protyre in Bristol Road, agreed: “We are guaranteed one person in a day with damage from potholes and that is a minimum. It can be more.”
Driver Louise Lancett, from Starve Beech near Drybrook, 25, said: “On my drive to work I have to slalom past at least ten potholes of varying sizes. I hit one of them at the wrong angle and my tyre blew. My neighbours have also had new tyres.
“It is becoming really expensive for us.” Something has to be done.”
Last year, only about six per cent of compensation claims made by Gloucestershire drivers for damage to their vehicles were successful.
Motorists claim that despite the poor state of the roads it is almost impossible to get a payout.
Gloucestershire County Council officials said moves to step up repair work would only begin once all roads in the county had been thoroughly inspected.
Since the start of the year the authority has filled in 6,500 potholes – next to an overall total of 91,128 last year.
Councillor Stan Waddington, cabinet member for environment, said: "We're in the process of carrying out a full inspection of the county's roads and, at first glance, the situation seems better than this time last year. But we know there are still some problem areas and we're working hard to address that.
"The full inspection should be completed very soon and we'll have a clear picture of the task facing us. Whatever we find, please be assured we are taking action and will do all we can to repair our roads."
25 Comments
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by Pingu, Hesters Way
Tuesday, February 08 2011, 8:49AM
“Good points from A Biker.
For some of us the danger is not just a bent wheel or a few hundred pounds worth of damage. It's our health and lives which are being put at risk by the condition of our roads.
Have to agree with the taxi drivers assessment of Devon Avenue. That road is a death trap for bikers and cyclists.”
by Glosboy, Gloucester
Monday, February 07 2011, 9:27PM
“Anne, Gloucester - I dont care what the reason was, it should NEVER have taken them a week to get sorted. If that was a street that a top council member lived in and was causing them problems, it would have been sorted a hell of a lot quicker than it was.”
by Anne, Gloucester
Monday, February 07 2011, 7:29PM
“Glosboy - Calton Road was closed because the road collapsed when a Severn Trent Mains pipe burst and collapsed it - Gloucestershire Highways closed the road for Health and Safety”
by Neil, Cheltenham
Monday, February 07 2011, 2:52PM
“Our infrastructure is reduced to Third World status, but our politicians can still easily find billions upon billions of pounds to spend on wars and upon extremely expensive nuclear weapons, whose only use will be to keep the USA's weapons industry in massive profit.
Don't believe them when they say as a country we are broke. In percentage terms the national debt is no worse than it was in the late 1950s and early 1960s, and no Tories compalined about it then. The politicians of all shades will always find money to spend on their own pet projects, particularly wars!”
by A, Not Gloucester
Monday, February 07 2011, 2:51PM
“The responsible authority is liable under Section 58 of the Highways Act 1980. I recommend reading this, as it clearly shows that the councils are at fault. Stating that they are awaiting response from inspection is not adequate defence. They have a duty to warn the public of dangers if they are unable to place the road in good condition. How many warning signs has anyone seen of roads with potholes in awaiting repair, even after the holes have been marked for filling? The local authorities are not fulfilling their obligations in law.
In addition, if the local authority is not fulfilling its obligations, the Minister responsible for highways has the right to require them to do so within a given period of time, so get on to the Minister of State for Transport and give him something to read!”
by JBNTS, Stroud(ish)
Monday, February 07 2011, 2:09PM
“I can't begin to imagine why you're paying a road tax Jo. Nobody else has since 1955.
(Agree about the shocking state of road surfaces though).”
by Glosboy, Gloucester
Monday, February 07 2011, 1:47PM
“Going round a small mini roundabout on Linden Rd, hit a pot hole which made a poping noise from the rear of the car. I pulled over thinking it had blown a tire, but all seemed ok. Got about 200m mtrs down the road and the car was not reacting well. When I pulled in I saw that the rear wheel was at an angle. I had to call AA out to get me moved. The rear wheel support arm had snapped from getting trapped in the pot hole while turning. I had to get my wife to walk my 5 year old son home at night in poor conditions while getting it moved, now have no car for 4 days and at a cost of £110 to myself. I pay my council tax for what reason, the roads are a state and dangerous. Even if filled in, they re-appear straight away. You try claiming but get nowhere. This council is a joke and should be charge with theft over my council tax because they do stuff all with it.
Also, on Calton Road, this was closed for one week because of a massive pot hole. One Week, what a joke.”
by A Biker, Glos
Monday, February 07 2011, 1:34PM
“These ever-increasing potholes are damaging enough in a car or van. Try them on a motorcycle!! I reported a specific situation whereby several deep potholes were followed up by a large, deep split & groove in the centre of one side of the road. The larger potholes were repaired fairly quickly in fairness, but the split was left untouched despite my insistence when reported that it was this groove which pulled my bike dangerously off course. It's not where cars will need to travel I guess, with their wheels going either side, and, well, motorcycles don't count do they... despite the fact we pay far more RFL than many, many small cars these days!!?!!
There will be significant injuries or even a death should a biker loose control and become separated from his/her machine resulting from this defect or any other cavernous pothole around the County.
I hear the defence offered when a motorist tries to obtain compensation for vehicle damage is that "they weren't aware of it"! How the hell do the Highways Agency staff get to work? Surely they travel the same roads as the rest of us, or are they deposited by helicopter directly to their desks? How can ignorance of a well publicised and County-wide issue be any defence at all?
(... *and relax* ...)”
by nowaussifeller, Australia
Monday, February 07 2011, 12:50PM
“Here in Australia Councils have a duty of care regarding potholes and must pay for any damage caused through poor road upkeep anybody back home tested this with a lawyer?”
by Andy K, cheltenham
Monday, February 07 2011, 12:44PM
“No things aren't getting better. Except a few patches here and there.
It isn't going to get better until they resurface the roads. (ideally in the summer) but I doubt they will do this. (they didn't last year).
They probably say they can't afford it as they have been wasting money else where on things like traffic calming, traffic lights and bus lanes.”