Motorists fork out for repairs caused by potholes (From Watford Observer)

Motorists in the Watford, Bushey and Three Rivers areas fork out for repairs caused by potholes

4:00pm Thursday 10th January 2013 in News By Adam Binnie, Senior Reporter

Motorists have been hit in the pocket with repair bills after their cars were damaged by potholes.

Holes appearing in more than a dozen pockmarked roads across Watford, Bushey and Three Rivers areas have been blamed on heavy rain and freezing weather during the past month.

One such crater claimed the wheel of David Fargus’ car on New Year’s Day, as he was driving through the tunnel in Water Lane.

Mr Fargus of Paddock Road was driving in his Saab 93 to see his son when he hit the pothole.

He said: "I could see a hole in the road but had no time to avoid it, then I heard a huge bang from the front right side of the car.

"We stopped to have a look but it was dark and wet so didn’t think anymore about it. Then as we started to drive home I noticed the car wasn’t handling properly.

"I stopped on Aldenham Road and noticed the tyre was flat. I called my son and we tried to blow the tyre up so I could get enough air into it to drive home.

"The next day I took it to the garage and we found there was a great big dent in the rim which wasn’t visible until the wheel was taken off".

Mr Fargus was told the wheel could not be repaired and had to be scrapped, and that the tyre was also damaged beyond repair.

He said: "We had to put the spare on, which is a space saver, so I wanted to put that on the back. When we took the back tyre off, we found that was damaged as well".

After finding a new wheel online, Mr Fargus had two new tyres fitted. The bill totalled £180. He filled in an incident report on the county council website and is waiting to hear back.

Roy Platten, who is from Watford but now lives in Hemel Hempstead, said his son had a blow-out on the M1 on Sunday evening.

He added: "When you contact the Hertfordshire Highways Department they say they "cannot be expected to repair any holes in the road if they don't know about them".

"Fair point, to a degree, but how does 'not knowing' square up if you're stopped by the police for having a faulty tail light on your car?

"The council is responsible for the upkeep of our roads and if "I didn't know" is no defence in the eyes of the law them not knowing is no defence either".

Hertfordshire County Council’s road repair contractor Ringway was unavailable for comment at the time of writing.