Man Left Stunned By Council After Filling In 20cm Pothole Himself

Credit: BPM Media

A man who was shocked after waiting weeks for a "dangerous" pothole to be patched decided to take matters into his own hands, but it didn't work out very well.

Simply put, potholes are a pain in the rear on British roads, and many municipalities are constantly fighting to fix them.

However, one Exeter resident was so enraged by a "dangerous" pothole that he made the decision to take action himself.

Credit: BPM Media

In response to complaints over a pothole outside his home, Paul Jackson claims he held off for several weeks after contacting the council.

In the end, he became impatient and chose to fix the hole himself out of concern that it would endanger a bike or harm a passing car.

He told DevonLive: "It shouldn’t be down to us to fill in our own potholes. At what point does it become a safety concern for cyclists, motorbikes, and damage to vehicles? The council/ highways are a joke.”

"The pothole had damaged someone’s car and had been reported by many people to the council. It was just a really bad pothole and was like it for weeks.”

"I’d had enough of driving into it and I’d read people claiming damages to their cars on the Whipton Community Group Facebook page so thought I’d sort it out before a cyclist or motorbike went through it. I used a couple of bags of cement to fill it over."

If only there had been some unexpected development, everything would have been fine.

Paul filled in the hole himself, but only an hour later, council personnel descended down on the road, filled the hole themselves, and removed Paul's repair work.

Paul said: "I believe someone may have contacted highways to report someone filling it in as they came about an hour after to fill the hole. Two trucks and about half a dozen workers came to cut it out and fill it back in. Was it a strange coincidence? They filled the other holes in the same area on different days bizarrely."

According to a Devon County Council spokesperson: "We cannot condone work being carried out on public roads without consent and anyone doing so is putting themselves and other road users at risk. This pothole was reported to our highways teams on Tuesday, May 2, and they repaired it on Wednesday, May 17, digging out the concrete before carrying out the repair.”

"We have additional crews carrying out pothole repairs across the county and they have filled more than 23,000 safety defects so far this year."

It is predicted that it will cost £14 billion to repair the local roads in England and Wales that are riddled with potholes. 

According to recent research by the Smaller Government Association, the government spent 31 times more per mile last year maintaining England's motorways and major A roads than it did mending smaller roads.

The government also boosted the Potholes Fund, which gives grants to English councils to address the problem, by £200 million to £700 million for the current fiscal year. 

Speaking on behalf of the Local Government Association, spokesperson Linda Taylor said: “Extra funding announced in this year’s Budget will help but faced with considerable inflationary pressures and this existing backlog, it is clear challenges for councils still remain.”

“Only by the Government providing councils with increased and long-term funding certainty can this growing problem be addressed and our roads bought up to scratch.”