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Kent County Council logo.jpgPothole fixed within an hour of cyclist hitting it
A pothole in Gravesend was repaired by emergency workmen within an hour of a cyclist hitting it and suffering serious injuries.
Council workmen were seen at the site, on Old West Road, last Sunday after a cyclist, a man in his 60s, was treated on site by an air ambulance and taken to Kings College Hospital with head, arm, neck and leg injuries. He is not in a life-threatening condition but remained in hospital this week.
A Kent County Council spokesperson said the pothole had not been reported before the collision occurred and urged people to do so.
One local resident, Duncan Gray, was among those who expressed dismay the hole hadn’t been fixed earlier. He told Kent Online: “It was amazing that within 60 minutes a van turns up and they are doing the repair. They were working on a Sunday afternoon when it would have cost an absolute fortune. I was gobsmacked.
“They could have dealt with the issue in the week, before someone came off their bike, and saved the taxpayer money. We can complain about potholes and nothing gets done and suddenly they fill it up.”
Another resident said the hole had been there for weeks. The collision occurred at around 1.30pm last Sunday, and several police cars, ambulances and the fire service attended. A temporary repair was made and a more permanent fix will be carried out later.
The pothole wasn’t reported on Cycling UK’s Fill That Hole website, nor on Kent County Council’s (KCC) dedicated Find and Fix Kent site, which helps the council prioritise a pothole. KCC says it aims to fix a hole within 28 days but in an emergency this can be done within two hours.
KCC spokesman Thom Morris told Kent Online: “We are concerned to hear the cyclist was injured. We were notified of an emergency pothole and made an instant repair by quickly filling the hole. This is to make the road safe straightaway while we schedule a full permanent repair.
“We had no reports of this pothole and would urge people to report potholes and other faults online at www.kent.gov.uk/highways
“In the event of an emergency, residents should call 03000 418181.”
In neighbouring Essex residents have raised concerns about one road with potholes so bad drivers reportedly have to drive on the road to avoid.
Laura Laker is a freelance journalist with more than a decade’s experience covering cycling, walking and wheeling (and other means of transport). Beginning her career with road.cc, Laura has also written for national and specialist titles of all stripes. One part of the popular Streets Ahead podcast, she sometimes appears as a talking head on TV and radio, and in real life at conferences and festivals. She is also the author of Potholes and Pavements: a Bumpy Ride on Britain’s National Cycle Network.
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8 comments
I'd like to report the whole of Edinburgh.
I second this suggestion.
"Another resident said the hole had been there for weeks. "
...yet becasue it didnt affect them didnt bother to report it...
Oo this makes me mad.
The state of the roads in Surrey and Kent is abysmal .
I did a Kent ride the other week and found, during 60 miles within the Kent part of the ride, well over 30 holes 10+cm deep.
And I'm expected to stop and note each one for something to be done?
If councils employed someone to review roads, then prioritised work based on road usage things would me much better.
They could use the Strava data that is available to councils to decide on the busiest roads, along study safety issues such as visibility.
Instead it's down to whether someone knows about fillthathole.org or can be arsed to report the hole, I.e. it's down to week shouts the loudest.
On the one hand, the council is responsible to keep the roads in a safe state of repair, but on the other hand, it's difficult to blame them if no-one had reported the danger to them. As they fixed the pothole quickly after officially learning about it, I'd say they handled it as well as they could.
Maybe they hoped that if they mended it quickly enough then nobody would know it had been there at all, and they'd manage to avoid criticism...
The cynic in me says that as councils are not liable to pay for claims on potholes they do not know about, they have no interest in checking for holes themselves. If they required all street level employees to report them (traffic wardens etc) that would lead to a database of known holes, but they would then be liable for claims if they weren't repaired quickly enough. Instead it's more cost effective for the councils to be reactive - only fill in a hole once a member of the public reports it and fill it as quickly as possible before the second injury, the first claimable one, occurs.
"drive on the road to avoid." Some mistake surely?