A badly damaged road in Watford has been resurfaced by the county council, more than seven months after being made aware of it.

The service road, from Beechen Grove to the rear of The Parade, was damaged in August last year, and further broken up by freezing and thawing temperatures, and heavy rainfall.

It is used to access a car park and the back of a number of shops and restaurants situated at the top of the town, including Domino’s Pizza, Panda Cuisine and Bar Bodega.

County council highways contractor Ringway originally said the stretch of road was privately owned, and would not be repaired.

However, more than seven months after the damaged was initially reported, Ringway has repaired the road - twice in the same week.

Barry Deakin of Eagle Cars, said: "The holes were more than five inches deep and were smashing cars.

"I have a guy come in to service the computer system and he wouldn’t even drive through it, and our builder damaged the front bumper of his Vauxhall Corsa in one of the potholes.

"I’ve got a Mercedes-Benz which I daren’t bring in because of the damage."

Most of this service road is in private ownership of a company in the British Virgin Islands, but county councillor Stephen Giles-Medhurst called for the resurfacing of the whole stretch, including work to clear the drains.

He said: "They were forever filling bits of the potholes on the public highway and sweeping the debris from the deep holes on the boundary, and it would be better for everyone to sort out the problem now.

"I have now provided details of the company that owns the private land and service road here - which is well used by a local cab firm - so they might reclaim some of the cost back."

The road markings will be refreshed soon and post-and-rail fencing will also be installed to protect the nearby grassed area.

Mr Deakin added: "I tracked down the original complaint, from August 24, and Ringway said they’re looking into why it took so long to do anything about it.

"About two weeks after the story, Ringway turned up but the road was flooded. They said it was the deepest pothole they’d ever dealt with. They were gobsmacked it was so bad.

"They came back the day after, on February 25, and filled the holes. We thought it was finished but they came back the week after, dug it all up, and re-laid the Tarmac on March 3.

"You wait seven months and then they come back twice in one week."