'Sort out the potholes!' Ravaged roads of the West Midlands in disrepair as RAC reveals huge cost to motorists
The owner of a top pub and restaurant says the potholes outside his business are so bad that he fears being tipped off his motorcycle.
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Stuart Phillips, managing partner of the Hundred House Hotel, near Bridgnorth, said the A442 Bridgnorth Road was in a dangerous state, and needed to be totally resurfaced.
It is one of countless examples of the region's ravaged roads, which we will be putting under the spotlight as we launch our dedicated Pothole Week.
Each day this week the Star will look at the impact potholes are having on drivers around different parts of the region.
It comes after the Prime Minister warned councils that their funding would be slashed if they do not meet their targets for repairing potholes.
Mr Phillips said the stretch of road between Sutton Maddock and Bridgnorth had already seen numerous repairs and potholes filled in, with numerous patches and strips.
But he said many large holes remained, forcing drivers to swerve around them.
Mr Phillips, 60, said a number of recent visitors to the popular wedding venue had been left with hefty bills to fix their car or have tyres replaced. One damaged car had been left in the bus stop outside the restaurant, he said.
"I come to work along the A442 every day and you see cars weaving in and out, sometimes quite violently," he said. "If they see the pothole at the last moment then you see them suddenly swerve and it can be a bit scary.
"Recently we had a wedding couple come for a meeting with us, they left and then about 20-minutes later they gave us a call and punctured their tyre between here and the Shell garage about a mile down the road. We had to help them out."
The RAC reckons there are more than a million potholes around Britain’s roads, and says they are one of the leading causes of call-outs.
The organisation said almost four in 10 breakdowns it attended during the final three months of 2024 were a result of punctured tyres caused by potholes, along with other factors such as nails and screws.
Over the same period, the RAC was also called to 4,709 drivers suffering from damaged shock absorbers, broken suspension springs or distorted wheels, a 17 per cent increase on the previous quarter.
The RAC's Alice Simpson said: “The poor condition of Britain’s roads is by far and away drivers’ top concern, yet despite the mild weather our figures show there was no relief from the problem in the final quarter of 2024."
She said she expected the cold snap at the start of 2025 was likely to add to the problem.
