Twelve automobiles left stranded in a single evening after hitting the SAME pothole
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A staggering 12 automobiles had been left stranded on one evening after hitting the identical pothole on a single stretch of street dubbed ‘pot-hell’ by livid locals, MailOnline can completely reveal.
Multiple automobiles noticed their tyres burst after hanging the crater on Frant Road, close to Crowborough, East Sussex on Valentine’s Day.
It was the fourth time in two years that automobiles have been left stranded on this stretch of street after hitting extreme potholes.
In November 2022, 15 automobiles broke down on Bunny Lane after hanging a crater. The subsequent month, three extra automobiles had been pressured to park up on the identical 1.2 mile thoroughfare after they suffered harm by the hands of a despair within the tarmac. And final January, eight automobiles had been left stranded after buckling their wheels on a gap on the identical lane.
Locals have described the stretch – used as a thoroughfare between Crowborough and Tunbridge Wells, Kent – as ‘pot-hell’.
Cleaner Jane Grace, 47, was one of many motorists whose tyre was broken after hitting the outlet on Frant Road final week. The mother-of-two raged: ‘When I bought out of the automotive I regarded down the street and there have been 4 different automobiles stopped with their hazards on.
‘I attempted to flag down different drivers to warn them but it surely was too darkish for them to see me, so extra individuals simply saved hitting the identical gap. Luckily my husband was three or 4 automobiles behind me, so he stopped and helped me to place the spare wheel on. By the time we left there have been about 10 individuals pulled up with their hazards on and two police automobiles.
‘I believe it is bought to be one of many worst stretches within the nation for potholes. It’s ‘pot-hell’!’
A complete of 12 automobiles had been left stranded after all of them hit the identical pothole
Pictured: The cavity that did all of the harm to 12 automobiles in a single evening
The drivers had been left with punctured tyres after their automobiles struck the pothole
Spare wheels needed to be placed on mamy of the automobiles so the drivers might get dwelling
This map reveals Frant Road, the place 12 automobiles had been stranded after hanging a single pothole
Is there a large pothole close to you? Email: [email protected]
Police directed site visitors whereas East Sussex Highways attended to hold out interim repairs on the cavity between the junctions of Bunny Lane and Tangier Lane. No collisions or accidents had been reported.
Jane hit out at East Sussex County Council for finishing up ‘sub-standard’ repairs within the space.
She stated: ‘The holes hold showing time and again as a result of the repairs are sub-standard.
‘They simply do floor repairs however as quickly because it rains the water will get beneath them and it cracks up once more.
‘So except they resurface your complete street it is simply going to proceed being a nightmare.
‘The roads round listed below are stunning. I drive into Kent so much and you may all the time inform while you’re again in Sussex as a result of the roads are a lot worse.’
Jutta Wrobel, 62, was confronted with a £150 restore invoice after damaging the tyre on her Fiat 500 when she hit the identical gap on February 14.
The furnishings artist, who lives in Wadhurst, East Sussex, watched 9 automobiles strike the three-and-a-half foot lengthy crater inside half an hour.
She stated: ‘During rush hour, at roughly 5.45pm, I hit an enormous pothole – three-and-a-half toes lengthy and a minimum of one foot vast and 20cm deep in elements – and sustained a blow out on my entrance passenger facet tyre.
A pothole on the identical stretch of street from 2023
The bottle of water provides a perspective on the depth of the pothole which prompted main harm in 2023
The incident is the fourth time in two years that a number of automobiles have been left stranded on this stretch of street after hitting extreme potholes. Pictured: The street in 2023
‘I limped alongside slowly to get my automotive off the street, as that stretch reverse the Bunny Lane turning is extraordinarily harmful, with out poor climate situations and potholes to make it much more hazardous!
‘In a surreal nightmare, one automotive after one other crashed down the outlet and pulled over to the facet of the street with their hazard lights on.
‘By the time I had bought up stage with the pothole, having spoken to the individuals now stranded along side the street, there have been 9 of us. Nine automobiles down the outlet within the area of perhaps 20 to half-hour. All broken and unable to proceed.’
The 62-year-old stated a number of motorists tried to name East Sussex Highway’s emergency hotline however had been unable to get by.
She added: ‘Someone known as the police at round 6pm. Several of us tried to name the East Sussex Highways 247 Emergency hotline for reporting harmful hazards within the street, to be met with a recorded message alongside the strains of ‘calls to this quantity are usually not being answered in the intervening time.’
‘In the absence of any police and no response from East Sussex Highways, we might solely watch in dismay as extra individuals plunged into the pothole.
‘The police lastly arrived at 8.30pm or thereabouts – two-and-a-half hours after being known as – and cordoned off the pothole, stopping additional carnage.’
Andrew Wilson, Liberal Democrat District Councillor for the Crowborough South East ward on Wealden District Council, described the roads within the space as being worse than these within the Ivory Coast.
He stated: ‘Personally, I believe the roads in Crowborough appear like they’ve been subjected to a sustained artillery strike.
‘In the course of my job I’ve been fortunate sufficient to journey to international locations all around the world and I can actually say the roads within the Ivory Coast are higher than the roads round East Sussex.
‘The scenario is absolutely, actually dangerous.
‘There is a brand new pothole someplace else alongside Bunny Lane each single yr. I do not perceive how one comparatively small, non-core route may be so chronically abysmal.
‘If you have bought a gap that is crippling 12 automobiles, then that’s clearly a difficulty and must be a wakeup name for East Sussex County Council to do main work to cease it occurring once more.
‘It’s an excellent instance of a wider drawback.’
Bunny Lane and Frant Road are round half-a-mile from Tunbridge Wells, the place Cllr Wilson claims the street surfaces are ‘materially higher’.
He stated: ‘I’m very pissed off with the state of the infrastructure in East Sussex.
The automobiles stranded on the facet of the street as drivers attempt to placed on spare wheels
Another pothole on the identical stretch of street from 2023
It is the fourth time in two years that a number of automobiles have been left stranded on this stretch of street. Pictured: a a cavity from 2023
‘If you drive over the Kent border, the roads get materially higher. In concept, if Bunny Lane was just some hundred metres up the street, it will in all probability not be within the state it is in.
‘The roads are so dangerous that the sum of money to repair them correctly would in all probability be within the a whole lot of hundreds of thousands of kilos.
‘But in need of some huge cash being injected into repairs, I do not see how the issue will get any higher.
‘And with the quantity of constructing and developments in and round Wealden, the street utilization will simply hold going up and making the scenario worse.
‘It has been very, very irritating on a district stage as a result of there’s a restricted quantity, we are able to do about it. We attempt to apply as a lot stress as we are able to on the county council, however we’re sadly beholden to the price range restrictions inside East Sussex and the way they use that cash.’
Councillor Sarah Glynn-Ives, Green Party District Councillor for the Frant and Wadhurst ward, is anxious potholes will trigger a critical accident within the space.
She stated: ‘It’s terrifying to assume one automotive after one other hit that one gap and broke down. It’s so harmful. They are fortunate they did not all crash into one another. The reality so many individuals had been affected is stunning.
‘There is an actual danger to everyone utilizing the roads, significantly cyclists and motorcyclists. And the police and NHS are having to take care of the fall-out.
‘I believe Bunny Lane should be the one street the place this has occurred, on this scale, so many occasions. It beggars perception.
‘But we have been placing up with it for years now. We know the state of the roads, and that the work is insufficient, however nonetheless nothing appears to be enhancing.
‘My palms are tied – I can ask County time and again, however the wheels transfer very slowly. It all the time comes right down to funding.’
East Sussex Highways stated interim repairs have been carried out on the pothole on Frant Road, and a everlasting restore is scheduled to be accomplished inside 28 days.
A spokesperson stated: ‘We had been made conscious of a pothole on Frant Road, between the junctions of Tangier Lane and Bunny Lane, on Wednesday (February 14) night.
‘Interim repairs had been carried out that night, and a everlasting restore is scheduled to be accomplished inside 28 days.’
MailOnline has contacted East Sussex Council and Sussex Police.
Is there a large pothole close to you? Email: [email protected]
