WATCH: Dangerous pothole bursts tyre of Northampton family's car

Mum-of-three Laura Baker and her husband were driving along the A508 past Kelmarsh in the north of the county on Sunday when they struck the monster bump.

The pothole caused a three-inch gash down their front right tyre, causing them to swerve and suffer an instant puncture.

She said: "My first thought was that we had hit something really big.

"We had three kids in the car and they were really worried. It was only when we pulled over we realised the tyre was punctured.

"If someone had of been coming in the opposite direction we would have been in serious trouble."

But Mrs Baker, a development manager, 33, from Kingsthorpe, is urging others to report dangerous potholes when they see them - as within seconds of her coming to a halt she saw another car suffer the same fate.

Remarkably, she captured the moment on camera in which an audible pop can be heard.

A local garage owner who passed by as Mrs Baker and her family waited for the AA, told her several others had suffered the same fate along the lumpy stretch of the A508 in recent days.

But when she reported the six-inch deep pothole to the police, an emergency Northamptonshire Highways team was dispatched within the hour.

"After we came to a stop in a layby, I walked over to the hole to see what it was like.

"As I started getting a film, it must have only been nine seconds into pressing record, another car went over it - I couldn't believe it.

"I just wanted other people to see what kind of damage these things can do. I don't think everyone is aware how to report these as it sounds as if other people had hit the same patch in recent days."

The county council says that in order to bring all of the county’s roads up to a “good standard” it would have to spend at least £100 million.

A spokesman for Northamptonshire County Council said: “This has been one of the most severe winters in recent years with three major snow events and about 100 gritting runs carried out so far.

“Like elsewhere in the country this has had a heavy impact on our roads.

“As the responsible highways authority for Northamptonshire we are continuing to work to our policy, which determines the safety intervention levels.

“If a defect meets our intervention criteria then we are still undertaking repairs within timescales set out in our policy.

“However to bring the roads up to what would be a good standard would cost at least £100m.”

Dangerous potholes can be reported via the council's Street Doctor service here.

Last month the Chron called on readers to submit pictures of the worst potholes in the county.

Email us at [email protected] with your pictures and details of where the offending dip is.

Next month we intend to submit all your snaps to the county council.