Drivers in Devizes complain of pothole-wrecked tyres and wheels
Residents of a pothole-scarred town have said that driving is an "exercise in navigation" thanks to the state of their roads.Locals in Devizes, Wiltshire, said potholes have caused burst tyres and even wheel damage.One garage said there had been a "massive influx" of customers with pothole-related problems.Wiltshire Council said it invests heavily in fixing roads, and has bought two bobcat machines for the purpose, but that a year of infrastructure work has delayed some repairs.
BBC Radio Wiltshire's Kayleigh Barker visited the town to speak to locals."I've got a little tiny Fiat 500 and I lose the car in a lot of these potholes these days," said one woman. "We've already had one burst tire and a replacement."One man said driving was "an exercise in navigation", explaining: "Rather than just driving down a normal, straight road, you're constantly looking out for holes in the road. They need to get it sorted out."Another local said: "It's terrible, especially along the side of the roads, and when it rains, if you've got to pull in, you can't see how deep the holes are."
The owner of the garage said: "We have had massive influx of people that come in due to potholes."First of all, they think it's a puncture and then when we do end up taking the wheel off, we find out [it's damaged]."Devizes Town Council's Jonathan Hunter said he wrote to the leader of Wiltshire Council, Richard Clewer, to flag the problem last month but that a co-ordinated response was needed."What happens is that National Highways come out, do some repairs, but tend to miss the surrounding potholes," he said.Wiltshire Council's Nick Holder said it had invested £22m over two years to resurface roads and fix potholes.But he said: "Devizes residents will be aware that utility companies have been doing work in the town over the last 12 months to repair their infrastructure."Unfortunately this has prevented our full resurfacing programme from taking place as there is no point in resurfacing a road for it then to be dug up."
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