I live in Northamptonshire and on a particular day last year commuted to an office in Stevenage, Hertfordshire.
A regular drive into this office along the usual ‘A’ roads that connected my route. Observing the tarmac ahead, occasionally swerving the potholes – sometimes prompted by the vehicle in front – then bang! That was a nasty pothole I thought that I unfortunately failed to avoid. Its location, one to remember I thought for the next time I pass. Continuing on for a minute or two, the steering felt heavy and the car started pulling to the left. Bugger! I looked for a safe place to pull over which was not evident. I was entering a village named Moggerhanger located in Bedfordshire along the A603 Bedford Road. There was a sideroad ahead on the left which I took and drove along for a bit to find a place to pull over. I got out, glanced at the tyres and found the front passenger tyre was flat, but the tyre was still on the rim and luckily the wheel looked undamaged.
I was not carrying a spare wheel (by design of the car). I had an electric tyre inflator pump but was missing the emergency tyre sealant. Looking at the tyre though, the hole near the sidewall looked too large to seal anyway. I was annoyed as the damaged tyre was an expensive Pirelli Zero and only 8 months old.
I had no other option to get going again, so using my phone, logged the breakdown on the AA app. The phone’s GPS automatically logged my location. I received a text advising a AA technician will attend in approximately 50 minutes. 40 minutes later the gentleman from the AA arrived, diagnosed that a new tyre was required and proceeded to phone around tyre garages to locate a suitable replacement. A suitable exact replacement was located in Letchworth, about 25 minutes away.
The AA technician jacked up my car, found that his few space savers that he carried were not a suitable fit for my car. He therefore removed my offending wheel, temporarily fitted an additional hub and a multi fit space saver. He advised it was best to leave the car on this space save rather than sitting on a jack as a twist in the suspension could occur.
We took the wheel to Letchworth, had the new tyre fitted at a cost of £257, then returned to my car. The technician fitted the wheel and new tyre back. I thanked him, tipped him for a lunch and continued my journey to the office in Stevenage. I arrived around 14:30 and worked late to make up the hours.
A few days later when driving to the same office, passing the offending place, I pulled over, walked back and took several photographs of the culprit pothole. I was actually three potholes in succession.
I went through the government website and on entering the postcode of the incident, took me to the Central Bedfordshire Council website. I reported my incident and uploaded my supporting photographs accordingly. They acknowledged my report and advised that it will be investigated.
A few days later, I received an email from Central Bedfordshire Council advising:
“Thank you for your Highways report. We have now inspected the defect and no planned repair is necessary at this stage. Please be assured that we will continue to monitor and inspect the road in line with our established service plan. Thank you for reporting this matter, Central Bedfordshire Council Highways. State changed to: No further action”
Where do I go from here ?
I am now reluctant to use this car for commuting due to the state of the roads for this particular route. I do not wish to incur this avoidable expense again.
A few weeks later, the Autoexpress publication documented an article displaying local council spend on claims. Central Bedfordshire was amongst the lowest at 3.61% of settled claims.
https://www.autoexpress.co.uk/consumer-news/360963/councils-refusing-pay-pothole-damage-cars
Since this incident however, in fairness to the local councils, there does seem to be remedial action taking place on existing potholes. Hopefully this will continue and we will be able to drive our cars without the worry of damage. ©
