The Perils Of Potholes

PH comes a cropper in Cumbria as the UK's pothole problem deepens

Anyone else had a problem with a pothole recently? We came unstuck in a big way when we tripped over this bad boy on the road between Lakeside and Newby Bridge at Windermere.

The monster lurks here...

The four-inch deep pit was out of sight behind a small crest as we approached. It's a tight little bit of road and there was stuff coming the other way, so our progress was naturally cautious. But having to keep an eye on the oncoming traffic meant we didn't get a sense of this huge pothole's cavernous depths until we were right on top of it. By which time our options were limited to ploughing on through, or swerving into the path of a Transit van.

The result? One completely written-off front tyre, a rear tyre with a damaged shoulder, and a pair of (very expensive) dinked alloy wheels. Yes, ouch, indeed!

Pulled-over to avoid further rim damage

As the pictures show, we were able to stop and pull into a gateway a few yards up the road, so we evidently hadn't been travelling at speed. Even so, the elastic-band-profiled Pirelli P Zeros fitted to our Audi R8 Spyder test car didn't stand a chance as they thunked against the near vertical lip of the pothole - and the front one burst with quite a bang.

Audi's 'get you home' tyre inflation kit was useless with a ruptured sidewall, so we got on the phone to their emergency call centre, which it turns out has been sub-contracted to the RAC.

Er... right then, better get on the phone!

And then we waited... and waited... looking at some rather attractive sheep, and listening to the succession of sickening thuds as the pothole took its toll on the rest of the traffic. Cars on more mainstream tyres seemed to soak it up OK, although we did see a red Fiesta lose a wheel trim, and a Fiat hubcap had been thrown over the wall into the field at the same spot.

Turns out there's a contractual obligation that any R8s lifted by the RAC have to transported in covered wagons, and guess what? The nearest RAC covered wagon was miles away in Manchester. Oh, and it was a Sunday afternoon. But on the positive side, there was somebody working the phones trying to find us a replacement tyre.

Other cars got away more lightly

A friendly RAC patrol turned up after a couple of hours, having found said item at a depot an hour away in Penrith. So together we moved the car to a spot less exposed to traffic, and then we fed Mini Cheddars to the local ducks, while he whipped off the front wheel and disappeared - returning some time later with a fitted replacement.

Total time spent by the side of the road? A whole five hours, which I have to admit wouldn't necessarily have filled us with glee if we'd just splashed out £117k on this glamorous car ourselves. (Although as journos we know which side our bread is buttered, so take these sorts of things happily on the chin!)

One of the (brand new) R8's alloys

As for the total cost of the damage, well we're still waiting for Audi to tot it up. But I've already received the claim form I requested from Cumbria council, so it will be interesting to see how we get on with that.

Incidentally, according to a story in the Daily Mail today, last year 1.4million potholes were filled in England and Wales at a cost of £100million. A further £30million in compensation was paid to motorists, cyclists and pedestrians injured by potholes.

With the average pothole costing £78 to repair, and more than 1.6million potholes reported, the figures for this year are expected to be even higher.

Experts estimate that, after a decade of underinvestment from Whitehall, Britain's roads need £9.5billion spent on them, the newspaper reports.