Potholes.

Just back from road trip to France.
Came across Zero pot holes!
Drove off the Chunnel and first thing we see a bloody great pot hole!

I don't remember until recently seeing potholes on our motorways
If we charged foreign vehicles to use our roads, especially lorries it would help with our road repairs.

We live between two motorways junctions and quite often if motorway has an accident, we have huge lorries diverted through our village.

Didn’t realise foreign vehicles were the problem? Maybe we should charge tariffs on our roads the way they do in Europe?

There is a levy on foreign hauliers as there is on all HGV vehicles. It was introduced in April 2014.

www.gov.uk/government/news/foreign-truck-firms-set-to-pay-to-use-uk-roads-for-first-time

We have a huge problem with our country lanes that carry an increasing amount of farm traffic as well as cars, many are basically single track with few passing places and no pavements. The edges of the lanes crumble away and fill up with rainwater or run off from fields and can get dangerously deep. On a very wet Sunday afternoon, someone accidently drove off the edge of our lane at speed, lost control and took out 20 metres of our hedge, narrowly missing an oak tree, the car ploughed on through the wet grass and was buried completely in another thick hedge. The car was a write off but the driver was very lucky and escaped with a fright and we got a £2,500 pay out for the hedge to be repaired in order to make it stock proof from his insurance company.

Someone’s been spray painting penises around our potholes at least it shows you where they are
They are awful, the potholes not the penises …. Well they might be awful as well I don’t know

Our roads remind me of the roads in Turkey after the rain and just before the tourist season. Loads of potholes all winter when all the repairs from the previous summer washed away. Repairs were done in the spring, just filling the potholes with asphalt. Come the next autumn/winter the roads were full of potholes again.

Where I live it’s virtually impossible to drive around the potholes. By the local Asda some work has just been going on but it certainly wasn’t road repairs. The holes are now worse than ever. I dread having to drive up that particular road.

The blame for the state of all our public services and transport lies squarely with the government. I don’t want lower taxes! I want fewer regressive taxes and more progressive taxes and I’d like the problems fixed before the country falls apart all together.

Apparently you could be fined up to £2500 if you swerve to avoid a pothole. Leaving my village this afternoon, I would've racked up a fine of £42,500 (and the same on return)!

www.heraldscotland.com/news/national/uk-today/24174459.uk-motorists-face-2-500-fines-avoiding-potholes/

Just walking on the uneven pavements around my suburb is perilous .
I have to go out tonight and I'll have to walk very slowly with a torch .
I have fallen over before .

My daughter had two bent wheels - and there were several other cars stranded as well - from a deep pothole, out of sight round a sharp corner. Nobody hurt, all reported, eventually fixed, but still, potentially, a real hazard, a lot of work and very expensive all round.

The posters who back 'small state' parties don't seem to be able to make the connection, Casdon.

I’m not dim MaizieD. I understand the connection. By ‘small state’ I would mean ‘essential state’ as I’m sure I pointed out on the thread you refer to. Just not ‘rainbow Police cars’ etc. There’s always money for EDI issues it seems with managers on eye watering salaries.

I would say potholes are a basic requirement.

foxie48

We have a huge problem with our country lanes that carry an increasing amount of farm traffic as well as cars, many are basically single track with few passing places and no pavements. The edges of the lanes crumble away and fill up with rainwater or run off from fields and can get dangerously deep. On a very wet Sunday afternoon, someone accidently drove off the edge of our lane at speed, lost control and took out 20 metres of our hedge, narrowly missing an oak tree, the car ploughed on through the wet grass and was buried completely in another thick hedge. The car was a write off but the driver was very lucky and escaped with a fright and we got a £2,500 pay out for the hedge to be repaired in order to make it stock proof from his insurance company.

Blimey foxie48! 😱

MaizieD

Callistemon21

When potholes are filled, councils choose the cheapest option and often the asphalt is poor quality and doesn't last anyway.

Pay cheap, pay twice.

When you're on a tight budget you sometimes have to choose between the cheap option or nothing at all.

We all know that the initially expensive option will save money over time, but the spending of 'public' money often doesn't allow for an initial 'big spend' that will lead to long term savings.

I do know how it works.

However, it's false economy.

On a recent visit to a daughter in Yorkshire, we drove over the North Yorkshire Moors to Whitby. The roads were as smooth as silk and she told me that they were kept in good condition because Cycle Yorkshire uses that route. Perhaps we need to promote cycling events in our own communities.

One side of the road near DD2 is a mass of potholes, of various diameters and depths - cars park on the other side, so it’s Hobson’s choice where to drive. I’d warn DD2 every time we went that way and she’d sigh and say she knew all about it.
I always took it extremely carefully, but must have ‘hit’ it at a bad angle - £188 for a new tyre, £100 to straighten the buckled wheel and a small fortune for a wheel bearing!
The Council keep throwing a bit of gravel in, but it’s gouged out by tyres and back to the same state within a few days.

Callistemon21

When potholes are filled, councils choose the cheapest option and often the asphalt is poor quality and doesn't last anyway.

Pay cheap, pay twice.

Exactly. We were stuck in traffic (because services were being installed on a new development that is being built without any amenities so that the town ones will be further overstretched, but that's another beef) and watched a council wagon pour asphalt (or tar, or some sort of blackstuff) into a pothole and drive over it to level if off, before pulling away. I assume they were using up their budget before the end of the year, but that 'repair' won't last weeks.

I think it has got to the point that we just take it all for granted because there is not a darned thing we can do about it. The government is run by unelected people who have no idea what it is like to live a life without the luxeries these 'born with a silver spoon in their mouths' live.

I was born in a lovely little town many, many years ago and yesterday watched a video on You Tube where a gentleman was walking round the town filming it's decline. All the shops were boarded up, there were betting shops, charity shops and amusement arcades galore, travellers in their caravans were parked in the centre of the town, it was heartbreaking but this is happening everywhere now, even Devon and surrounding areas have started to deteriorate and are over run by drug addicts and other non desirables. What are we paying our council taxes for. Where I live, I have found that the reduction of bus services has made a big impact on people going into the town to do their shopping, even when you pay for a taxi, there are no go areas because they are reserved for the Black and White cabs who charge the earth. When you do find a parking space for your car you have then to find the correct app for that particular car park but find there is no wireless signal or it does not work then you have to find another car park which has a different app before you can even park your car. I am beginning to think that the powers that be want to stop everyone visiting town centres for some reason or another by putting up these obstacles so they can let them fall to rack and ruin.

I was speaking to our son the other day and told him that I feel so sorry for our grandchildren because they will never know what it was like to live in clean bustling towns and villages and I am so grateful for all the many, many wonderful years we had before the downfall of our country.

Some councils are using the What3words app, you can take a photo of the pothole and W3W will show them where it is to within 3m.
A great app to use if you are out walking in the middle of nowhere and get injured and have to call the emergency services.

TinSoldier

There is a levy on foreign hauliers as there is on all HGV vehicles. It was introduced in April 2014.

www.gov.uk/government/news/foreign-truck-firms-set-to-pay-to-use-uk-roads-for-first-time

The levy was suspended for 3 years and reinstated last year, that's 3 year's revenue lost.

I live in a small estate with one road in and out. Potholes galore. Yestersay travelled through two different counties, and the difference in the B roads was amazing. In spite of now driving on pothole aware mode for months now I didn't come across any potholes. Last week I read that a lot of the pothole problem is down to how road repairs are done in UK. Apparently the edges of a repair should be sealed, I gathered it meant like putting a strip of icing on the edge of a cake basically sealing the repair. Made sense as this would stop water getting in to break down materials underneath. If only!

Not trying to get into a political argument, but when all the money collected by governments to maintain the country over the years is not allocated sensibly this is what happens. Can we really neglect essentials whilst spending money on all the other things,? There is too big a list to enter here.
Our generation had to budget carefully and learnt how to look after our house, family and community as a priority.

I used to ride a motorbike and potholes like this are lethal! I'm nervous of even riding an electric bike on a lot of roads now.

It's the same here in Edinburgh. I have had to replace 3 tyres now! My partner rides a bike and he says he feels he literally takes his life in his hands on some roads.
I feel really sorry for these delivery guys( mostly guys) like Deliveroo who are out in the dark at night , in all weathers and on these really dangerous roads full of holes and uneven areas.
It seems that no one cares any longer . Our country is definitely in decline and going down hill all the time... just another thing!

Here in Ireland we're hard pressed to find a single pothole, either on motorways or minor roads. Yes the climate here is milder than the UK and there's generally not so much heavy traffic, but in and around Dublin, traffic is just as bad as in London. I thought this article on the subject was illuminating:
news.sky.com/story/uk-spends-least-out-of-13-nations-on-repairing-roads-blighted-by-potholes-12938409?fbclid=IwAR1uYLvZlm9K4sDLh2EcPggRKSGc6f9DWS-hAAar7kSNDgJ_RDl9SF2IzDE

One road beside us has been closed for one month for drainage repairs. Why in heavens name has there been nobody doing anything for days on end. It's a disgrace. Why don't road workers work 5 days a week anymore.

Here in Edinburgh, instead of attending to the roads the council is spending money on covering up graffiti.... all this does is give the graffiti artists a fresh canvas, thank you very much!!
Who are these council people?... AKA here as Clown-cil