Call for action on potholes

A survey from the AA has found that 30 per cent of motorists have experienced damage to their vehicles due to poor road surfaces. With a third of AA members reporting to have suffered damage to their cars as a result of pothole damage, Matthew Mycock, Autoglass managing director, has commented saying: "Cuts in the road maintenance programme will inevitably mean potholes go unfilled and cracks are left unprepared."

Mycock added, “This will cause discomfort and inconvenience to drivers, damage to their vehicles and even jeopardise their safety. Every day, we hear from our customers that travelling around parts of Britain is becoming a nightmare because of the state of the roads and this is not likely to improve in the foreseeable future.”

Every year over 100,000 Autoglass customers suffer from cracked windscreens caused by potholes. A poll by the company revealed that potholes were the number one issue for motorists with 80 per cent saying repairing them was the top priority for the national road budget.

Nearly half (47 per cent) of those questioned said they would prefer to see State support for the Royal Family trimmed if the money could be diverted to fixing the crumbling road network. Thirty nine per cent also called for the foreign aid budget to be cut to tackle the problem.

Mycock said: “The state of the UK’s transport network is a huge issue and many drivers would be prepared to countenance cuts in other budgets if the money was then earmarked to fix the nation’s roads.”

Autoglass has long supported campaigns to rid the UK of the blight of potholes and previously held a ‘giant pothole’ stunt in London’s Trafalgar Square to raise awareness of the nuisance potholes cause for motorists, including the problems it can create for windscreens.