Sir Rod claimed that “no-one can be bothered to do it”, and explained why he and “the boys” decided to take matters into their own hands: “The other day, there was an ambulance with a burst tyre. My Ferrari can’t go through here at all”. 

Potholes are a common menace for road users across the country. In 2021, the RAC said they received a total of 10,123 callouts for road-condition-related breakdowns, which is 19% higher than 2020 and a 10% increase on the 9,198 breakdowns in 2019.

Essex County Council however urges against vigilante repairs, saying people are “putting themselves and others at risk” with unofficial DIY jobs. Lee Scott, the council’s cabinet member for highways maintenance and sustainable transport, warned that anyone attempting repairs themselves could become liable for accidents.

Local residents on the other hand are thankful for Sir Rod’s bold action. After 6 months of reporting the pot holes on Sheering Lower Road to the council, nothing had been done to rectify the hazard. 

After the public attention from Sir Rod’s repairs, the council have now pledged to resurface the road in July. There is hope Sir Rod’s actions will draw a much needed focus on the national pothole pandemic, and will hopefully see repairs being prioritised across the country. 

Essex resident Dominic Zarian remarked, “What’s the world coming to when the local rock star has to fix a road?” 

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The motoring organisation said that in the first three months of 2021, their patrols were called to help 4,694 drivers who had most likely broken down from hitting a pothole. This equates to 52 drivers per day, despite the national lockdown in place at the time.

The RAC stated that this was a three-fold increase in breakdowns, too, when compared to the last quarter of 2020. They claimed it was “the largest rise between quarters the RAC has ever seen”.

Some typical indicators of a pothole-related breakdown are broken suspension springs, distorted wheels and damaged shock absorbers. All of these issues can result in costly repairs for motorists who encounter a pothole.

Nicholas Lyes, Head of Roads Policy at RAC, said: “In many cases, the condition of many roads is now in a desperate state. Many drivers are finding themselves having to use roads that in places better resemble the surface of the Moon.

“The quieter roads brought about by national lockdowns could have been an ideal time for councils to start to fix problem road surfaces, ready for the arrival of more traffic as restrictions are eased. Sadly, our data suggests this may not have been the case and may also suggest many councils are still simply patching up potholes rather than fixing them properly.”

The company is urging the Government to acknowledge the state of the country’s roads, and to take action to tackle the problem. 

They propose that while immediate funding goes some way towards filling potholes, it is not a long term solution for dealing with underlying surface issues. Instead, local authorities must plan and carry out routine maintenance.

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Councils have revealed that funding cuts have a significant part to play in this issue, with 57 percent of them stating that they have had their repair funds reduced over the last five years.

This decline in upkeep has not gone unnoticed by the public, as almost a quarter of the local authorities surveyed said that they receive 51 to 100 pothole-related complaints every month. Although councils have become inundated with repair alerts, 55 percent do not believe that the government sufficiently understands that lack of funding is a problem.

This comes after Chancellor Rishi Sunak pledged an extra £2.5bn for road maintenance in his budget. He claimed that this would go towards filling millions of potholes every year, with the aim of addressing the country’s current road-quality crisis.

Broken sections on the road’s surface can cause safety risks for all users, but especially for cyclists. 80 percent of cyclists who took part in the survey reported undertaking a ‘dangerous manoeuvre’ in the past, in order to avoid a pothole.

Meanwhile, more of the public are being encouraged to use bikes to get around and to take advantage of any cycle to work schemes they can use. This coincides with the announcement of a £2bn package for cycling and walking infrastructure last year.

UltraCrete, a company providing highway maintenance materials, also spoke to private highway maintenance contractors in their survey. They discovered that 68 percent of them agreed that their employers need more funding for pothole repairs.

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