Potholes are major growing problem in South London

BY MATT FARMER
toby@slpmedia.co.uk

Potholes are a growing problem across the country, but in South London the cracks are really beginning to show.

The second most pothole complaints of any borough were in Lewisham, which had 4,698, according to a recent study. Further south, Croydon came third with 3,791.

In the 12 months from December 2017, there were reports of 49,488 potholes across London.

Most boroughs are worse than they were last year, and a third more potholes were reported in last year than the year before.

The largest increase is in Redbridge, almost tripling the number of potholes found there since last year.

The survey commissioned by JMW Solicitors found the worst borough to be Ealing, with 5,195 reports.

Lambeth council has said that it has no way of knowing the number of pothole reports made to them.

Town hall officers did confirm that they spent more than £5,000 paying damages due to potholes, between April and September 2018.

Potholes are caused by cracks in the road filling with water in cold weather.

When the water freezes, it expands and makes holes grow. The Beast from the East brought a week of wintry storms to Britain one year ago and had a big effect on roads and their users.

Paul Breen, Head of Catastrophic Injury at JMW Solicitors said: “Potholes can cause serious, life-altering injuries to road users, in particular cyclist and motorcyclists.

“It is vital that these road defects are repaired to allow these road users a smooth commute.”

According to greenflag.com, two in five drivers would be willing to pay more tax for pothole-free roads, and more than half of drivers have had their car damaged by holes in the road.

More than a quarter would be willing to take a five-mile detour to avoid a pothole-filled road.