Aylesbury Vale resident demands the council pays for tyre burst by pothole

An Aylesbury Vale resident wants Bucks Council to pay for his punctured tyre after it was wrecked by a pothole.

The resident was driving through the A413 in Padbury when he burst his tyre.

Currently, 19 issues with that road are showing on the Fix My Street section of the council website.

Now retired, the Bucks resident is requesting that the council pay his £70 quote to replace his unusable wheel.

He has also expressed his frustration at the 12 weeks it takes for the local authority to process this kind of complaint.

Also, the retiree was upset at having to go around the houses to submit his complaint to the council.

First he visited officials at its main headquarters in Gatehouse before being redirected to Walton Street, next he was told to call in to submit his claim, before he was finally redirected to complete an online form.

The motorist told The Bucks Herald: “It’s an absolute nightmare down there. An absolute joke.

"They are not doing anything about the Buckinghamshire roads and that area is particularly bad.

"I was driving through Padbury and ‘boom’ and I got about two miles down the road and the wheel started to go flat.

"I now have the spare wheel in the car. If I have a puncture again I’m going to be without a car. And while I’m retired I do work part-time as a lorry driver.”

Since reporting the incident the resident has noticed some improvements on the A413 in Padbury.

However, he believes the local authority has temporarily filled the pothole he hit, to “cover the evidence” for his claim.

Councillor Steven Broadbent said: "We sympathise with Mr Sharp. Unfortunately, the combination of recent weather with freezing conditions followed by heavy rain is having an unprecedented effect on our road surfaces. We have invested extra funds and are working hard to make repairs as soon as possible, prioritising areas where the most significant damage has occurred.

"Where residents feel they have a claim to make for damages to their vehicle, they should fill out the form on our website. The process of investigating claims is quite lengthy and so 12 weeks is a standard timescale. We appreciate this can seem overly long, but a great deal of investigative work involving multiple teams must be carried out for each individual claim and this takes time. A paper form is available for those unable to use the online form, however, due to recent postal strikes, we recommend that where possible the online form is used to ensure receipt of a claim."

Residents believe the pothole situation is getting worse year-on-year on the village’s main route.

Back in 2013, a Bucks Herald report flagged the problem road as one of the most difficult and treacherous places to drive.

The resident could have to wait until March or April to find out if the council will pay out on his new tyre.