Pothole of the Week - Crumbling Banburyshire road caused bending of rims and two instant punctures

A driver was victim to the disintegration of the road edging near Middleton Cheney, causing two instant punctures and the bending of the rims of the two wheels.

Campaigners believe it will take a generation or more for roads to be re-surfaced, repaired and recovered to the state they were in before austerity began to starve highways department budgets, forcing a policy of pothole-filling rather than proper roads maintenance.

The bill for compensation (the complicated rules do not make it easy for motorists to recover the cost of punctures and repairs to wheels and suspension) would be huge.

Countless reports are being lodged with Fix My Street every day. Today (Tuesday) just one of the complainants reports 12 potholes in one location, impossible to avoid without driving over a verge, one being over six inches deep. The complainant reported three vehicles having suffered punctures.

Complaints are being made about entire stretches of crumbling roads, some in well used areas such as the Tesco roundabout and others in rural areas where motorists weave dangerously to avoid potholes and damage to their vehicles.

Potholes are also creating trouble for motorists navigating speed bumps, chicanes and manhole covers where road surfaces have degraded and broken off. In some cases the potholes have gone down as far as the base of the road structure.

Many potholes are the result of the breakdown of previously fixed holes.

The national average time for a pothole to be fixed is 94 days. In lucky Amersham it is just one day.