Council’s apology after pothole reporting error
A disgruntled motorist has won a battle with the county council over a dangerous pot hole in Covenham, after the council initially claimed there was ‘insufficient information’ for them to investigate.
Chris Belton, from Yarburgh, told the Leader: “The pothole on the double bend in Covenham has been causing damage for months.
“I recently had a brand new tyre destroyed and a friend’s visitor’s car suffered structural damage.
“The road is now partly covered in water and has been for many weeks. The pothole is invisible to motorists. It’s a busy road and on a bend.
“As you can see, the brush is almost submerged,and its bristles are four inches long.”
“Nevertheless, I described the location in detail and sent these pictures to Lincolnshire County Council’s pothole reporting site.
“Their reply was: ‘Unfortunately we have been unable to take action with this fault as there was insufficient information.
“Please report again with more information about the fault and location”.
Chris added: “What am I supposed to do? It’s a cop-out!”
Following enquiries by the Leader, the council apologised to Chris and insisted they will repair the pothole soon.
County councillor Richard Davies, executive member for highways, said: “I’m sorry that [Chris] received a message from the ‘Fix My Street’ service that we needed more information for his report.
“I can confirm that we have received [Chris’] report, and we’re going to repair this pothole as soon as we can.
“Submitting photos with reports can help us repair defects even quicker, so I’d like to thank [Chris] for taking the time to take and send pictures of this pothole.
“We’re looking into why [Chris] received a request for further information in this instance, rather than a progress update.”
Chris is making a claim against the council for the cost of the damaged tyre.