ridge in nuney green

A MAN has offered to repair a road himself after becoming “frustrated” by a lack of action.

Adornino Basso, who lives in Nuney Green, near Cane End, says the road into the hamlet has a hump about 5m long and up to 20cm high in places.

It has caused major damage to his two cars, a Porsche and a Lotus Elise. Mr Basso said the ridge first appeared about two years ago and he had reported it to Oxfordshire County Council, the highways authority, on numerous occasions.

The council marked white lines on the ridge but has not carried out any repairs to the road. Mr Basso, 59, said: “I was so desperate to get it fixed that I said to them, ‘I’ll repair it myself’.

“The person that I spoke with said, ‘No, you’re not to touch it because if you do try to repair it and something happens, then you’d be liable’.”

He said he was also told that he would need insurance cover of
£1 million in order to carry out the work himself.

Mr Basso believes the ridge was caused by vehicles, including logging trucks, passing over a weakened part of the rural road.

He said: “Because that road has never had a proper substructure, it’s just Tarmac over soil and it has got nothing underneath to support it. Over the years, as cars and lorries go along the road, they compress the ground.

“The verges are usually quite thin and soft, so they collapse and you end up with a hump in the middle of the road.”

He said the damage to his cars had cost him about £3,000 as he needed new springs, shock absorbers and bump stops.

Mr Basso said: “It’s not only due to the ridge but the state of the road in general.

“Every time you take the ridge the wrong way, the car hits it. There is damage to the bottom of the car as well.” He said the ridge was a big problem for delivery drivers and in one case a bumper fell off a van.

Mr Basso said: “It’s frustrating because you’re not allowed to touch it and if you do, you are liable.

“I think the problem is that it’s not considered an important road because it’s just going to a hamlet. It doesn’t have any priority. I fear the dreaded ridge is here to stay.”

Oxfordshire County Council said that a member of its highways team would visit the area to inspect the road.