By Community Correspondent Rosie Morris

As a teenager I personally hadn’t noticed the pothole problem and to be honest couldn’t tell you what a pothole was up to a few months ago. It was only after February’s heavy snowfall that the problem worsened due to the constant ice and snow putting a strain on our road tarmacs. After the snow finally cleared the sea of road damage was truly exposed.

I couldn’t see what the fuss was all about until, when researching for this article I stumbled across a very interesting website called potholes.co.uk. Perhaps I’d read it wrong (maybe poodles.co.uk?) but no, here was an entire website dedicated to the plight of those suffering with pothole-related disorders. Visitors were able to add a pothole to the highly useful “pothole map” or share a personal pothole story and gain all important advice from other victims of pothole abuse. You could even follow potholes.co.uk on Twitter, listen to the pothole anthem, take part in pothole season or my personal favourite, the “I wondered lonely as a pothole” pothole-themed poetry competition.

However, there is a serious side to this seemingly ridiculous website. Potholes are a major factor in causing axle and suspension failure and cost British motorists £2.8 billion every year! The site contains useful information on how to claim from the council if your car has been damaged by the above named menace. It also emphasises that on average, roads are only resurfaced in England once every 65 years which is clearly not enough to deal with the problem. Councils need to listen to the cries of the public and do something about potholes!