Simply potty!

A DRIVER has told of his anger after a single pothole left nine cars stranded in one night.

The crater in the B481 at Park Corner measured about 2ft long, 1ft wide and 5in deep, with a sheer face inside, making it difficult to spot.

Derek O’Sullivan, 60, from Ipsden, was driving towards Nettlebed on Wednesday last week when his Audi A8 hit the pothole, which shredded his front near-side tyre.

He said the hole was unnoticeable as it was dark and, shortly after pulling over, a string of vehicles suffered the exact same fate.

Mr O’Sullivan said: “The hole had a sheer cliff face that shredded my tyre and buckled the wheel.

“I was the first person to hit it that that evening and within 15 minutes eight other cars had hit the same pothole with the same result.

“People just kept coming and hitting it and in the end there were six cars parked where we were and another three in the layby further down the road. I have been driving that road for 20 years and never seen anything like it. It was absolutely extraordinary.

“It got to the stage where we had local people come out from their houses to bring us cups of tea and biscuits.” One of the residents then took a road sign from further down the road to put next to the pothole to try and alert drivers.

Mr O’Sullivan said the number of victims could be even higher. He said: “There were other cars that went past us and you could hear that they had punctured tyres who just didn’t stop. The situation is absolutely unbelievable. It’s a 30mph road and while we have all driven over potholes, this made the biggest impact by a long way. I knew immediately that my tyre was destroyed and I was able to stop about 50 yards past it.”

Mr O’Sullivan said another driver needed to have their wheel replaced and a mobile tyre fitter was called out to replace a tyre on four of the cars before they could drive off.

He said: “Everyone was just standing around waiting to be recovered. I was there for three hours and 15 minutes and it cost me £470 at the side of the road to get a replacement tyre put on.

“I was able to drive home safely because it's only a short distance and the next day I had to report it to my insurers. I am hoping there is no suspension damage, it is difficult to describe what a massive impact it was.

“If there is oncoming traffic on roads like that you have got to be fully in your lane, you can’t swerve to miss it.

“The pothole was positioned almost perfectly to take out your front near side tyre and everyone who was stopped by it had the same tyres blown.”

Mr O’Sullivan’s wife Sophie called 999 because she felt it was too dangerous to collect him and
contractors for Oxfordshire County Council were notified and they carried out a temporary fix. The next morning the pothole was reported to Fix My Street.

He said the state of potholes in roads in Oxfordshire is “terrible” and that the council and Henley MP Freddie van Mierlo, himself a county councillor, should do more to tackle the issue.

He said: “It wasn't just the one pothole in that stretch of road, there were another two. My son also burst a tyre on a pothole on Monday driving to college and got stranded by the side of the road, funnily enough, in Park Corner.

“Now you are driving along consciously keeping a very keen eye out for potholes. But in the dark, even with headlights or if there is oncoming traffic, you can't see what is on the road ahead of you.” Mr O’Sullivan said: “Everyone is going to be pursuing the council as I will be when I find out whether or not my car’s suspension is damaged. A wheel for my car is £700. We can all accept that things can happen, but this was completely out of the ordinary and clearly very dangerous.” A spokesman for the county council said: “We were contacted about this pothole through our out of hours service at 6.38pm on Wednesday last week. We were not previously aware of it and had received no reports through our Fix My Street app.

“A temporary repair was completed at 9.21pm the same day. The location will be monitored and a permanent repair will be scheduled. We do have a scheme for the route to be surface dressed in 2025/26, at a date to be confirmed, but this will be preceded by carriageway pre-patching over the next month or so.

“We prioritise potholes which pose the greatest danger first. Depending on the situation and location, a temporary fill may be done as a two-hour or 24-hour repair. We encourage members of the public to report potholes using www.fixmystreet.com.”