Vocal Voices

It happened at about 6 PM on the Ring Road as I was coming back from a hospital appointment in the rush hour - heavy traffic. I was in the left lane and needed to be on the right to turn at the roundabout. A car flashed to let me in and that's when the pothole struck.

At first I thought that the door had been jogged partly opened and was flapping on the frame but when we all stopped at the roundabout I checked and it was firmly closed. As I moved off the rub, rub sound started again. I managed to limp home.

I have phoned a garage to assess the damage but that will be done tomorrow. The council offices are shut so I cannot yet claim. My insurers will get the repair done but tell me that I must claim compensation from the council because of my voluntary excess.

I am fuming!

So sorry, WM, what a bug**r.

Wheel and tyre written off, I presume, hope nothing more serious.

Potholes are an absolute menace these days, you're lucky if you can see then sometimes with all the water. Potholes regularly get reported to the County Council round here, and they are proactive in repairing them - the trouble i,s the repairs last less than a week on average.

Ossie, they are not repaired they are filled in.

I have a long running correspondence with my useless councillor about this. There is the use of low-grade materials, poor workmanship and a lack of supervision or quality control by the managers we tax payers pay excessive wages to serve us.

The "repairs" last weeks, if that.

There was a pothile in the main road near where i live. I reported it to the council twice. It just got bigger. When they eventually came to repair it,
the hole was dug out with straight sides befoire new tar macadam was laid and a roller pressed it down. It semed to be a real proffessional job as it
is on a bus route so gets a lot of heavy traffic.

If posible take photos of the pothole with the date on the photo. It will help your claim.

Cruiser, there is no chance of doing that. It is on a 60 MPH dual carriageway with no footpath, and it is miles away - two buses to get near then a walk through some woods.

The council office is still shut but Aviva are getting the repair sorted and I get a courtesy car while it is being done.

I hit a pothole last night on my way home with an almighty thump - on a dark country lane with not much visibility; and no where safe for me to have stopped had I damaged my tyre / rim - it's been a while that I've been that glad to get home safely!

I've reported it online and can see that others had as well so hopefully it'll be sorted asap.

Hope you get your car sorted Frank, esp the insurance bit!

Oh how annoying WM, I'd be funing too. You are so right, potholes rarely get repaired properly, such a waste of money. Hope your car gets sorted soon and you get good compensation.

The back road into Ourique is a nightmare, full of holes, large and small.

Not helped by the enormous lorries using it for transporting the huge loads of cut eucalyptus. They-re using our track as well, so everything is just full of holes. Nothing can be done yet, more rain to come and lorries still using it.

We go the other / longer / way, which adds about 10kms to our trip. But no pot holes.

A friend damaged his tyre on one going into Ourique and as he has a Mercedes, and a very expensive Mercedes, he got the GNR involved who reported it to the council and they paid for the new wheel and tyre.

Sadly, the pothole is still there

That's a real pain WM. I hope the council doesn't try to weasel out of it and you get it all sorted quickly.

Just like my damaged wheel, round and round and round we go!

Cromwell, the council does not weasel out of anything, they just make it almost impossible to make a claim, complaint or observation. If you do not have the Internet or an app or are not competent in using them, forget it. Phones are manned by script readers who are of no use, and dedicated email addresses are hidden away unless you think out of the box. Unfortunately for Leeds City Council I am good at that. I now have the Mayor's email and those of ever so many heads of departments. Dig deep and ye shall be rewarded.

A tsunami is coming their way...