Potholes leave driver with £1,000 repair bill

Dan Brigginshaw was driving his Toyota MR2 Turbo home from work along West Marsh Road at 4am on Wednesday, May 24, when he felt a sharp bump and his power steering failed. After moving the car to the side of the road, Mr Brigginshaw got out to see what had caused the jolt and was shocked to see his tyre had burst and one of his rare alloy wheels had buckled. Now he is calling for Lincolnshire County Council to pay for the repairs which he believes could end up costing more than £1,000.

Mr Brigginshaw, who is a constable with Spalding Police, said: "On that night there was light drizzle and something was coming the other way so I was keeping an eye on that. The speed limit is 30mph down there so I wasn't travelling very fast.

"After I felt the tyre go I reversed back to see what had happened and then managed to get it back to the police station where it's been ever since.

"West Marsh Road is the easiest way for me to get home and I had noticed the amount of potholes in the road before."

Mr Brigginshaw added that his MR2 was originally imported from Japan and parts for it are quite hard to find. The alloy wheels fitted to the car are no longer in production, meaning he will have to pay for a complete new set rather than only replacing the one that was damaged.
He said: "They don't even make the wheels anymore but if it is bent out of shape then I'm going to have to spend £800 to get them replaced. I don't even know how much the power steering will cost to fix as it depends on whether I can get the parts for it. It's supposed to be a show car and I've spent a fortune doing it up. I have been in accidents where I've suffered whiplash before but I've never gone for compensation in my life. My car has been damaged through no fault of my own. Surely the highways department must know that lorries use that road on a regular basis."

Lincolnshire County Council divisional highways officer Steve Willis asked Mr Brigginshaw to write to the authority with details of the damage so the situation can be looked at.
He said: "He will need to write to us with information regarding the damage caused including details about when and where it happened. We would then have to investigate it through our insurance section."

West Marsh Road was closed to through traffic from Sunday, May 28, while repairs were made to a collapsed sewer.

Mr Willis added that workers from the authority had also filled in some small pot holes on West Marsh Road after visiting the site to look into reports of a sunken gulley earlier this year.
The council carries out road inspections on a regular basis and investigates complaints regarding roads received from members of the public.

Source: Spalding Today