Council Pothole measurements and criteria

Wack61

Member
Messages
8,764
This is the sort of ******** councils do now, instead of paying a team of guys to fix things they pay one to show why they don't have to, hedgerows strewn with litter, potholes, overgrown bushes blocking footpaths so kids are walking in the road, it's a disgrace.

A few years ago I was walking the dogs near some council owned football pitches when a guy in a council van pulled up, I said I was surprised to see him as I thought they'd sub contracted all the maintenance out .

He said no there's still 4 of us looking after the changing rooms but we don't do the pitches anymore, when he started there were 18 guys looking after them and 4 in the council offices

Now there's 4 of us left but there's still 4 in the office, and you wonder where the money goes
 

zagatoes30

Member
Messages
20,758
Our road is in such a state that there have been numerous calls to the council, which unfortunately have gone bust apparently but no doubt they will all be fixed by Grand Prix weekend.
 

rockits

Member
Messages
9,167
I've never seen so many roads in so much of the state they are ever before. It is the worst it has been.

There is a little junction near us where B158 goes to Essendon/Hertford then other turn goes into Brookmans Park on A1000 Potters Bar to /from Hatfield. The road is so bad over a wide area you see cars braking heavily suddenly to drive over it all at 10mph or swerving suddenly one direction to the next to miss the multitude of holes. It is an accident waiting to happen if it hasn't already. Been like it for a couple of years now since a load of commercial heavy plant destroyed it while converting a large house on the corner to many luxury apartments.

There is one road round the back of Potters Bar where the have been several holes the size I have never witnessed before. Maybe a hole of a foot or more two deep being 3 feet long & a foot or two wide.....no joke. Luckily I have fallen foul of it but there would be no way you would see that at night. The damage it could cause and the potential for an accident innvolving a pedestrian is far too great.

I have seen service roads outside shops being completely dug up and resurfaced when the main roads outside are shocking. Of course.....highly logical!
 

CatmanV2

Member
Messages
48,539
I have seen service roads outside shops being completely dug up and resurfaced when the main roads outside are shocking. Of course.....highly logical!

Quite possibly because the side road is maintained by the town council while the main road is maintained by the county council (I use the words maintained loosely!)

While it's still illogical, it might at least explain it in terms of the right and left hand not falling out. We have this all over Harlow. They can't trim the bushes because either
1) They are owned by the person whose garden they are overgrowing from (Of course. If I blocked the pavement with my car, you couldn't touch is because it's mine)
2) EU directives prevent them from trimming when birds are nesting (this is true). So there's a roughly 48 hour window each year.

Round here they stopped strimming the grass against lamp posts and such and just sprayed weed killer around it. So now all of our footpaths and lamp posts have yellow stripes of grass. Apparently this is within the performance terms of Veolia's contract. In my job if I'd created a contract that bad, I'd be looking for a new one </rantette>

C
 

2b1ask1

Special case
Messages
20,220
Know it Rockets, went over it Friday Morning, possibly the longest linked potholes I’ve ever known!
 
Messages
6,001
I stood and watched some contract guys 'fix' a dozen pot holes near my level crossing. They were there 20 minutes and missed some completely.
I watched their technique:-
Shovel full of warm asphalt off the back of a lorry placed in the wet pot hole, a second guy came along and tamped it down with a machine, then move onto the next pot hole. Two additional guys doing a traffic control lollipop arrangement and a fifth guy as the driver.
I went back the next day and photographed the (now) mounds breaking up and have sent them to Redcar & Cleveland Council with a complaint. I am waiting for a response.
I assume they were contractors and nobody from the council has turned up to check the quality of the work.
Money for old rope.
Incidentally the level crossing is the boundary with Middlesbrough Council (where I am) and they would not cross the railway line to the Middlesbrough side to fix the pot holes there.
This remedy will not last a month
 

allandwf

Member
Messages
10,958
Now they can pay a manager to monitor how many are over 50mm, and have been repaired in time, and met the target, thus they can pay themselves a nice bonus for meeting targets and appearing to be efficient! ;)
 

sionie1

Member
Messages
1,310
Bonkers isn't it.. There are a couple of holes around here that started off a decent size, not filled in despite being reported , and are now easily through 5 layers of road. To make it worse it's on the carriageway opposite a row of parked cars, so swerve room is limited. I was behind a M3 today who hit it at 25 mph. Made **** of a bang, couldn't see any immediate damage to his car, but they pulled over pretty sharpish.
 

safrane

Member
Messages
16,746
Round here they throw the wet tarmac in and then drive back an forth over it...job done!
 

Wack61

Member
Messages
8,764
I once saw a pickup parked on the hard shoulder of the M6 about 1/2 a mile away , watched a guy run into the middle lane with a shovel full of tarmac, throw it in a hole wack it with the shovel then run back

They probably had a pistol in the cab to play Russian roulette with at dinnertime
 
Messages
6,001
I stood and watched some contract guys 'fix' a dozen pot holes near my level crossing. They were there 20 minutes and missed some completely.
I watched their technique:-
Shovel full of warm asphalt off the back of a lorry placed in the wet pot hole, a second guy came along and tamped it down with a machine, then move onto the next pot hole. Two additional guys doing a traffic control lollipop arrangement and a fifth guy as the driver.
I went back the next day and photographed the (now) mounds breaking up and have sent them to Redcar & Cleveland Council with a complaint. I am waiting for a response.
I assume they were contractors and nobody from the council has turned up to check the quality of the work.
Money for old rope.
Incidentally the level crossing is the boundary with Middlesbrough Council (where I am) and they would not cross the railway line to the Middlesbrough side to fix the pot holes there.
This remedy will not last a month

Got an email reply from Redcar and Cleveland Council regarding the Pot Hole repair I raised with them.
Apparently they have sent 'an Officer' to the site for an inspection and he has stated there is no safety concern.
Given that my original email was about quality and quality control with no mention of safety from me it seems that is the end of the matter as far as they are concerned
Lip service only I fear
 

Vampyrebat

Member
Messages
3,115
This is the response I got after my little incident

Dear Sir,



Our Ref: 004595-000306-GD-01



Our client has forwarded details of this claim to us. We would ask you to note our interest as their Claims Handling Agents. Naturally we are sorry to hear of this incident, and the unfortunate damage that you have sustained.



Presently we are making further investigations into this matter directly with our clients and as such we are unable to comment upon the question of liability. Claims of this nature are governed by pre-action protocols. It has been deemed that we should be allowed 3 months to carry out our investigations.



We will do all we can to let you have our liability decision by then, and it would assist us if you could bear with us during this period.



In the meantime please provide us with details of your losses supported with documentary evidence.



We look forward to hearing from you.



And this is the grief Chester West and Cheshire are getting about their potholes
https://imgur.com/gallery/UJl3H
 

Scaf

Member
Messages
6,511
I can’t believe the deterioration frollowing the recent snow.
I was away last week (winter sun) but returned to find my journey across Herts / Bucks / Berks to have changed dramatically. My dashcam is pinging away every 200 yards or so as the bangs and bumps set off the “incident” recording.
As for repairs, the temp repairs they do by just chucking a shovel full of tarmac and giving it a cursory tank down with the back of the shovel are just a complete waste of time and money

Caught this on my dashcam a few years back

https://youtu.be/iRYjQrp9Zx4
 

MrMickS

Member
Messages
3,951
The A64 east of York was relaid last year. There are a number of <50mm deep but >50cm diameter holes in it now. All on the way back from the coast. I'd hate to hit one at speed. At least during the holiday season the traffic will be moving at less than 20 mph for most of it.

We had some of the holes in our street 'filled' the other week. The road is beyond patching and needs to be relaid. There is building work going on at the end of the street and the patches have already started to lift.
 

Jkulin

Junior Member
Messages
983
I have made two claims with Highways England and the local Staffs Council, the first was a massive pot hole that will require my nearside front wheel being refurbed and the second was an 8 inch deep pot hole that they were aware of and had marked but did not fix, I went down it when accelerating out of the junction and it smashed the nearside silencer on my 911, that cost them £2950 and they paid up as I took it straight to my local Porsche Dealership and they confirmed the damage in a written statement.