A fed-up driver has waged war on a pothole epidemic plaguing her local roads by compiling a dossier of more than 700 ‘horrendous’ craters along a 10-mile stretch in Scotland.
Samantha Garden decided to make the dossier of the stretch of road between Lockerbie and Annan after having three run-ins with the local authority over the state of the road last year.
Ms Garden said she reached her ‘wits’ end’ after her car was damaged, resulting in two payouts and one rejected claim on the B723.
After the third incident which saw her require a new tyre, she set out to document every single defect along the road.
Samantha said: ‘I said to my parents I’m starting at the Lockerbie flyover, and I’m going to walk from Lockerbie to Annan and photograph every pothole.
Samantha Garden has waged war on the 700 potholes she found in a 10-mile stretch in Scotland
Ms Garden found the potholes between Lockerbie and Annan and has created a dossier of pictures demonstrating the poor state of the B723
‘I’ve ended up with about 708 potholes and some of them are absolutely horrendous.
The damages is yet another addition to Britain’s embarrassing pothole epidemic.
In April some of the country’s worst streets were revealed – and shocking pictures demonstrated just how damaged roads are across the UK.
Ms Garden said she is send her dossier to MSPs, MPs, the First Minister,and I’ll write a blanket email and tell them my patience has run out.
‘The council are happier to pay out claims rather than fix the roads. It’s a dangerous road. It’s going to cause a fatality.
‘It’s a bit of a joke and it’s the worst I’ve ever seen it.’
Some of the standout holes in the road show the previous surface complete with old road markings and potholes stretching along one side of the road for yards at a time.
Samantha, who lives near Lockerbie, drives the route daily and wants to see repairs carried out as soon as possible.
The 33-year-old added: ‘If there’s ever work on the A75 we are a diversion route so we take all of that traffic which is hundreds and hundreds of lorries every day.
‘They get diverted onto a B road and it gets chewed up. I think it’s been about 11 years since this road was fixed.
‘I’ve got sheep three quarters of a mile up that road I look after. You need to drive all over the place to avoid the potholes.’
Samantha explained she went on the warpath after three incidents involving damage to her car.
She said: ‘Last year I hit a pothole and I was really annoyed at the condition of the road so I put a claim in to get a new alloy and tyre.
Ms Garden uses the road every day and has had three run-ins with the local authority in the last year after her car was damaged resulting in two payouts
‘I reported it to the council at the same time as I put a claim in and they rejected it because they had 30 days since I reported it to fix it.
‘The pothole was there for months before I hit it. I should’ve been entitled to a payout.
‘In January I had just got new tyres put on and I hit another big pothole and bent my alloy again, burst the tyre and I had to get my car recovered because of the damage.
‘That was me at my wits’ end. I contacted the police, looked up on Google maps of the pothole from a year ago, got loads of evidence and put the claim in.
‘Eventually, four months later, they paid out. But I had to put in a new claim three weeks later from another pothole.
‘It’s ridiculous. I’m driving around seeing good roads and our road is forgotten about.’
A Dumfries and Galloway council spokesman said the local authority recognised roads are in need of improvement and in February it committed £30 million of funding over the next five years.
He added: ‘The condition of roads right across Scotland is a major challenge with the total funding needed to bring council managed roads up to a good standard across Scotland being estimated at nearly £1.7bn.
‘So while the council is making important additional investment it will still be necessary for us to carefully prioritise repair work to ensure we target the areas of greatest need.’
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