Deep pothole

by soraya

07 Feb 2011

This stretch of the A44 is littered with potholes and road damage following the extreme weather in December. I was travelling south along the A44 at 8pm on 21st January 2011. I had just got to the top of Fish hill and was travelling the short stretch between top of fish hill and Chipping Campden turning. I was confronted with lots of potholes and bumps and tried my best to avoid them but I hit one full on with significant impact. The pothole was not immediately visible and it was positioned bang in line with the driver side tyres. It was so forceful the car (a golf R32) shuddered so badly I felt it was sure to have damaged the car or its alignment - it made a really loud noise. I drove home -and was home within 10 minutes following this incident. The next morning I had a fault with my car, a broken coil which I had to have fixed by VW - I am convinced this was as a result of hitting the pothole. I then also noticed my front (driver) side bulging at one side like it had a huge air bubble in it. I took it to Carterton tyres who reported the tyre has badly damaged and not road worthy. The tyre had been badly damaged externally which was letting air into the superficial rubber part making it very uneven and dangerous to drive. A new tyre cost me £141 incl Vat. Carterton also sorted my aligment, which appeared to have been affected. This pothole is really nasty and needs patching up. Sigfnificant damage caused to my car and I am a careful and very observant driver.