'Fuming' young driver criticises council over state of the roads in Northampton after huge pothole leaves him with £200 repair bill

A young driver is “fuming” after a huge pothole on a busy road in Northampton has left him with a £200 repair bill, no car and a ten page form to fill out for the council.

Gas engineer Harvey Sambridge, aged 19, was driving up the A4500 past Upton on Saturday night (March 16) when his red Ford Fiesta hit the crater-like hole in the road.

The young driver said: “I’m fuming. It was dark, I didn’t see it. As soon as I hit it I heard a big thump, then my car started to drift right.

"I pulled over and saw the alloy was dented out. We shouldn’t be driving on roads like this.

“I’m in the process of claiming for damages through the council’s website but it’s such a long form (ten pages), it’s not simple and it must put people off claiming.”

Like many young drivers, Harvey has had to shell out thousands for insurance and a car just to get on the roads – and now he’s faced with a £200 repair bill.

He said: "I can’t afford it at the moment. I got my car MOT’d on Saturday and now I can’t drive it. I have no car until it’s fixed. It’s going to affect me massively.

"I’ve paid £2,000 for car insurance, thousands for a car, more than a hundred in road tax, more than one hundred to pass my MOT... but the council can't be bothered to keep the roads in good condition.”

The man in charge of highways in West Northamptonshire, councillor Phil Larratt, was asked what he would say to Harvey and the thousands of other drivers who are having to swerve potholes on a daily basis.

Councillor Larratt, cabinet member for Environment, Transport, Highways and Waste at WNC, said: “We recognise that some of our roads require further maintenance and repair, which have worsened with the recent spell of severe cold and wet weather.

“We understand the frustration this is causing our residents and we are working to prioritise and complete works as quickly as possible. We are making significant steps to improve the condition of our roads by deploying new technology and advancing our fleet, with methods that are proven to drive efficiencies and provide a quality service.

“Since the roll-out of the pothole pro, we have identified areas that could maximise the benefits of the new machinery and are in the process of incorporating this into our planning for future works. This is not going to be an overnight fix, however with the Pothole Pro and further new equipment we will continue to make improvements to our roads.

“We do continue to encourage residents to report potholes to our team via our online form here: FixMyStreet (northamptonshire.gov.uk) ”

This newspaper spotted highways workers on Tuesday morning (March 19) filling in the potholes on the A4500 next to Upton.

A motion to keep £1.9 million in the highways budget to fix the “poor state” of the roads across the town and beyond was rejected by the Conservative-led West Northamptonshire Council (WNC) at the latest council meeting in February.

In addition, the £184,000 JCB Pothole Pro recently bought by WNC has been described as “the classic case of buying the car and not being able to afford to run it” after it was revealed the local authority cannot afford to run the machine it at full power.