FabSwingers.com forum: Potholes UK

By (user no longer on site) OP
over a year ago

Are you happy with UK roads or sick to death of the constant growing amount of dangerous potholes on all local and major roads?

whats your view?

•Potholes are a major factor in causing axle, tyre & suspension failure, as well as altering your wheel alignment set up which then ensures uneven tyre wear. This costs British motorists an estimated £2.8 billion every year.

As a biker I love to ride through Europe and the difference in roads are like chalk and cheese, most roads in Europe are amazing to ride on, very smooth which gives a good bike ride, good handling and low noise

Then you get the UK where you are lucky to get home alive, dodging huge potholes and craters that can easily cause a fatality.

on a net basis, Britain was the second largest contributor to the EU budget last year. It put €10.8bn more into the EU pot last year than it took out. Only Germany paid more on a net basis

yet the quality of our roads is extremely poor from what I have seen compared to when driving through Switzerland, Greece, Portugal, Germany, France, Italy, Yugoslavia (Croatia, Montenegro, et al) and of course Spain where they have endless brand new dual carriageways with very little traffic, I did find Corsica to have a lot of potholes which reminded me of the UK

What's your views on our UK roads, you all think they are nice and safe or are you unhappy with the ever increasing pot holes and condition they are left in?

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By *rightonsteveMan
over a year ago

Brighton - even Hove!

Really poorly maintained. Shameful.

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By (user no longer on site)
over a year ago

Ive complained twice in the last month to my local council about one outside my house, i live up a single track lane and this pothole is huge so you have to either drive through it or through the mud around it, all i got was a response on both occasions saying it would be looked at within 5 days but nothing had been done

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By (user no longer on site)
over a year ago

"Ive complained twice in the last month to my local council about one outside my house, i live up a single track lane and this pothole is huge so you have to either drive through it or through the mud around it, all i got was a response on both occasions saying it would be looked at within 5 days but nothing had been done"

Drum up some support from neighbours when different households complain they tend to take more notice. Round here they stick them on the village Facebook page and it gets done rapid.

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By *rightonsteveMan
over a year ago

Brighton - even Hove!

I suppose the standard council response to 'there's a pothole' is 'we will look into it'.

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By *risky_MareWoman
over a year ago

...Up on the Downs

I split a tyre last week on a five foot pothole!! Gonna try and claim for that. ..

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By *enard ArgenteMan
over a year ago

London and France

"I split a tyre last week on a five foot pothole!! Gonna try and claim for that. ..

You should be able to: freind of mine got 2 new tyres, a new wheel and suspension strut out of Kent County Council; lucky you didn't damage a wheel rim!

Every time I come back to UK I am shocked by the state of the roads. Trouble is when they actually do "repair" potholes they do it cheaply by just chucking in a bit of tar, so the repair fails after a few weeks and actually makes the pothole worse .

The roads in Kosovo were better; and that was a war zone at the time.

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By (user no longer on site) OP
over a year ago

"I split a tyre last week on a five foot pothole!! Gonna try and claim for that. ..

the potholes website tells you exactly what to do and how to make a claim step by step, 10 easy steps

I tried to message you the link but you don't accept mail, you will find the link easy enough on the internet

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By (user no longer on site)
over a year ago

I took out a driveshaft and upper wishbone on a pothole a while back. The council and highways agency weren't interested even though I gave plenty of evidence as to the location and size of the pothole in question. I couldn't get pictures though as it would have been too dangerous to do so.

There's a guy that paints cocks around any that he comes across and it's actually been very effective at getting them repaired as it costs around the same as cleaning the paint off. Other people plant flowers in them to draw attention. It's disgusting that we pay so much RFL and tax on fuel etc yet such a tiny proportion goes into maintaining the road network.

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By *rincessvenusCouple
over a year ago

Hull

reported one 4 weeks ago to council still there think i will cancell my direct debit for council tax that will get aresponse

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By (user no longer on site) OP
over a year ago

" It's disgusting that we pay so much RFL and tax on fuel etc yet such a tiny proportion goes into maintaining the road network."

we only pay £0.82 a litre of fuel duty and tax, how can the government seriously try and fix the roads when they only collect 82pence for each litre of fuel sold??

soon everyone will be driving high 4x4's to avoid all pothole damage

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By (user no longer on site)
over a year ago

" It's disgusting that we pay so much RFL and tax on fuel etc yet such a tiny proportion goes into maintaining the road network.

we only pay £0.82 a litre of fuel duty and tax, how can the government seriously try and fix the roads when they only collect 82pence for each litre of fuel sold??

soon everyone will be driving high 4x4's to avoid all pothole damage"

That means they get roughly £50 per full tank of fuel from the average car driver (not including vans, lorries etc) how much does that total every year?... More than enough probably, especially if they'd actually implemented a proper maintenance policy when they should have.

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By *enard ArgenteMan
over a year ago

London and France

" It's disgusting that we pay so much RFL and tax on fuel etc yet such a tiny proportion goes into maintaining the road network.

we only pay £0.82 a litre of fuel duty and tax, how can the government seriously try and fix the roads when they only collect 82pence for each litre of fuel sold??

soon everyone will be driving high 4x4's to avoid all pothole damage"

That's of course making the (erroneous) assumption that the " road fund Licence" is used for funding roads

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By (user no longer on site)
over a year ago

" It's disgusting that we pay so much RFL and tax on fuel etc yet such a tiny proportion goes into maintaining the road network.

we only pay £0.82 a litre of fuel duty and tax, how can the government seriously try and fix the roads when they only collect 82pence for each litre of fuel sold??

soon everyone will be driving high 4x4's to avoid all pothole damage

That's of course making the (erroneous) assumption that the " road fund Licence" is used for funding roads

I'm aware it also goes towards funding the emergency services and the NHS but SOME of it should really be spent on keeping the roads in a useable state, afteral, the roads are the country's backbone.

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By (user no longer on site)
over a year ago

I'm not sure how the financing works actually.

Car tax and fuel duty would go to central government but it's repairs are usually a County responsibility. Do they invoice central or just get an allowance?

I'm guessing road condition differs depending on which authority is responsible (ie, some councils will be shit while others a little better).

Are the way our roads resurfaces (materials/technique) any different from other countries? Every time I've seen a resurface/repair it's looked pretty shoddy and I'm not surprised it's fallen to bits.

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By *ervent_fervourMan
over a year ago

Halifax

Aye. It just goes into an unspecified central pot: education, health, defense, houses on duck ponds, etc.

The difference between cycling on roads now and twenty years ago is beyond belief.

This is where cuts get you.

Ell done with the 'road tax' thing!Everyone who pays it is paying it as a tariff for everything else.

Investment in cycle lanesand public transport would sort it out.

" It's disgusting that we pay so much RFL and tax on fuel etc yet such a tiny proportion goes into maintaining the road network.

we only pay £0.82 a litre of fuel duty and tax, how can the government seriously try and fix the roads when they only collect 82pence for each litre of fuel sold??

soon everyone will be driving high 4x4's to avoid all pothole damage

That's of course making the (erroneous) assumption that the " road fund Licence" is used for funding roads

I'm aware it also goes towards funding the emergency services and the NHS but SOME of it should really be spent on keeping the roads in a useable state, afteral, the roads are the country's backbone."

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By (user no longer on site) OP
over a year ago

whats a few holes in the road anyway, they don't do no damage

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By *ervent_fervourMan
over a year ago

Halifax

Death. Injury. Damage to vehicles. Finacial cost(both personal and to society via council tax).

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