large pothole

by SWISS66

05 Apr 2010

I am writing a formal complaint to the state of the Doncaster roads riddled with potholes and craters and the Councils slow and inadequate repair of the local highways.

For myself and my wife Sally, this was illustrated disturbingly on Thursday night 1st April when we decided to have an evening in with a DVD and relaxation as my wife is currently recovering from surgery.

We chose to drive from our home in Westwoodside across to Blockbuster on the west side of town, passing through Auckley, Branton and the town centre. On our return we travelled through Armthorpe and out towards Old Cantley turning left onto Gate Wood lane heading to Branton and home. We drove up Gate Wood Lane and, with the rain and darkness, as it was later than 8pm we failed to see the enormous pothole just at the crest of the hill before the M18 Bridge. There was no avoidance as it was too close to the kerb and swerving around it would mean driving into oncoming traffic (as there was an oncoming vehicle). The sudden jolt and bang severely winded my wife, causing extreme pain and discomfort, and to add to this I feared the damage of a tyre or wheel on the near side.

We returned home, Sally went to bed early as the jolt caused pain in her chest and I checked the tyre, it was cracked on the sidewall and a ‘tulip’ rupture had occurred.

The following morning I contacted several tyre garages for the immediate replacement of the front tyres (always change in pairs) and found the size and availability at ATS in Maltby Rotherham.

I made the trip there and had the tyres changed for a completely unnecessary expense of over £360 as before this incident the tyres were in very good condition and had 5 to 6mm left on them as our car is only 9 months old from new.
Regards
J Gleadhall
FORMAL COMPLAINT PROCESSED