Although it is normal for us to see an increase in damage caused by potholes at this time of year, we think the number of cases is up on last year indicating that the condition of the roads is sadly worse than ever!
At our Stowmarket branch alone, we have had about 20 damaged tyres in the last week. The Manager, Reece Pyne, said that the split is usually on the side wall so the tyre cannot be safely repaired resulting in a new tyre being needed. He said that the recent ice and snow has increased the depth of the potholes so he has also seen a lot of cracked rims, especially on low profile tyres. In some bad cases the shock absorbers and suspension springs have needed replacing too.
Potholes are driving the nation crazy and despite the fact that they are a source of business for us, we don’t like them either!
Costs can run into hundreds of pounds to repair the damages caused by potholes and these unexpected costs are hitting some people really hard especially with the current cost-of-living crisis.
We appreciate that cash strapped councils are struggling to keep on top of repairs to our roads but something really needs to be done. So many roads are long overdue proper resurfacing and patching them up is not solving the problem.
Pothole damage claim
Some of our customers have had some success claiming compensation from Highways England (Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland have alternative sites). You can find more details here:
Report a pothole
don’t forget to report them here:
https://www.gov.uk/report-pothole
Let’s hope 2023 sees an improvement to this annoying problem. If you need us to give your tyres a safety check, call into any of our branches in Sudbury, Haverhill, Diss, Saffron Walden, Bury st Edmunds or Stowmarket.
