A month (and a bit) in the life of a pothole

Potholes, as any cyclist or pedestrian will tell you, can be fairly unpleasant if not downright dangerous.

The Manchester City Council policy is that if a sharp edge trip (potholes in local council speak) is "actionable" it will be repaired within 10 working days.

The photo(s) are of a fairly serious pothole on Stretford Road just down from Rolls Crescent, travelling towards Chorlton Road.

Now, I don't normally cycle that close to the kerb, but having been forced in towards the kerb by a rather unfriendly car driver I found myself having to brake and swerve to avoid this rather large hole.

Not wishing others to face the same problem, I reported the pothole to Manchester City Council, via the Environment on Call email service on 5th February 2009.

The report was logged and on the 6th February I was informed that the "Highways Inspector will visit the area within 3 working days."

Noticing that nothing had happened by 20th February I emailed again asking for an update on progress. Again the response was that "The Highways Inspector will visit the area within 3 working days."

On the 23rd February an email arrived that stated the "work to repair the pot hole has been ordered, it should be completed by the end of today (23 February)."

Nothing having happened by the time I cycled home on the 25th February, I emailed again and received the slightly different response that the "Highways Inspector will contact you by the end of the next working day."

By the 3rd March, the pothole had acquired a plywood board and four traffic cones which at least made it safer. Unfortunately, by the 4th March the plywood board had either broken or had been "borrowed" for other purposes. But at least the cones remained.

The pothole was finally repaired on Saturday 7th March - which is 26 working days (including Saturdays) after it was first reported. I never did receive any notification from the Highways Inspector but I live in hope.


You can (and should) report potholes in Manchester roads by contacting:

Environment On Call
Email: contact@manchester.gov.uk

Pink Bank Lane, Level 2, Manchester. M12 5QN
Tel: 0161 954 9000
Fax: 0161 274 7182

or via the Manchester City Council website reporting form.