Andrew Leach, 66, was cycling to his daughter’s netball match in Oxford in November 2021 when he hit a pothole, falling off his bike. He lay in the middle of the Oxfordshire B-road, unable to move, for about 90 minutes, until police arrived and moved him to the side of the road.
“It was coming up to rush hour. I think I am very lucky not to have been killed,” he said, as passersby followed advice to wait for an ambulance. “It showed the state of emergency services too – they’re clearly overstretched.” Following a three-hour wait for an ambulance, Leach was taken to hospital: the fall had broken his hip.
While it was the most severe incident, it was just one of many potholes the 66-year-old from Solihull has encountered as a cyclist. “Over the last 10 years I have noticed a marked deterioration in road surfaces around the country,” said Leach, who is retired.
The government is under pressure to improve UK road infrastructure as the number of drivers concerned about its state hits record levels after years of underinvestment, a survey by the RAC found. Councils, responsible for managing 98% of roads, had central government funding for local services cut by 40% in real terms between 2010 and 2020.
Leach noticed a real difference during recent cycling holidays to mainland Europe. “The roads are safer for all and encourage an active lifestyle and bring tourism to the area,” he said, adding that he came across only a few potholes across a 350-mile route through the Italian Alps.
This was a far cry from the roads in one of the UK’s nature hotspots, the Lake District, Leach noted. This was echoed locally by Daniel Hunter, a retired 56-year-old in North Cumbria. “It’s a national disgrace!” Hunter said, noting that tourists visiting the area are met with uneven roads that make it challenging to drive and ride safely. “This is what we’re showing off as the sixth largest economy in world … Even though I’m opposed to them, you’re almost not surprised people want four-wheel drive.”
Hunter said: “Things have got worse since 2010 – the lack of investment and maintenance has hit awfully.” But he believes improvements are starting to be made in his area. “We’ve got a pothole-fixing machine in the last year or so – you can see they’re trying.”
The state of the roads locally has caused damage to his car, Hunter said. “Because we’re in Cumbria, potholes are often covered in water … You just don’t know whether you’re going into a puddle or a pothole,” he said.
In the last couple of years, he believes potholes have cost him about £280 in repairs: first, due to damage to the front suspension on his 2004 Volkswagen Passat, and then the front coil snapping in the same car. “It’s become one of the expenses of motoring. It’s almost like off-roading. Who picks up the tab for not repairing roads? The car owner.”
Like Leach, Hunter is a keen cyclist, and has had to adapt as the roads in his area fall deeper into disrepair. “We used to ride road bikes and now we ride mountain bikes on the same roads. You’d come home with your bones rattled.”
For newer motorists, the state of the UK’s roads can be particularly challenging. Yasamin, 29, remembers learning to drive in Cheltenham as “ridiculous”. “My instructor was constantly having to have his car repaired because of damage he said was caused by potholes,” she said.
Her test in March 2022 was “an absolute mess”, said the actor. “None of the routes I’d been practising on were available due to emergency resurfacing works – we had to follow diversion signs the whole way. I had to do the emergency stop exercise for real because a man riding his bike in front of us hit a pothole and fell off!”
She was out of pocket by £190 last November after her front wheels needed replacing due to damage a mechanic told her was due to potholes. “I swerve around potholes, but there were bulges and damage to the front two. Both had loads of tread left.”
Sally, an NHS doctor in Trafford, said her husband had three punctures within three weeks at the beginning of this year – damage she said was caused by potholes. “It got so bad we have changed our car to one with fatter tyres, at the expense of the environment and financial cost,” the 44-year-old said, explaining that they swapped their electric vehicle for a secondhand diesel car. “We would have kept it but it’s too big a risk financially and the roads seem to be getting worse, not better.”
Road closures due to potholes and planned works in her area mean that her children have regularly been late for school. “I’ve also struggled to get to work due to potholes, road diversions and repairs,” she said. “I report potholes almost daily.”