Sometimes it's worth complaining

[The PIT]

Blimey I got our council to do something.

The manhole cover outside our house over a year has worked lose. Every car/van/lorry that goes over it produces a very loud double clunk.

Sadly since the council cocked up the road improvements on the main road out Sheffield south near us most drivers now use it as by pass. So at rush hour it's a constant flow of traffic. So it's clunk clunk clunk. Try sleeping with it. Luckily the traffic during the week drops off at 10.30 ish sadly at the weekend it's 12.30 to 1am. Guess who didn't get much sleep Friday and Saturday.

Well I've been emailing the council after digging out the well hidden contact address from their wedsite.

Got home to day and they fixed one side. Sadly the otherside of the road is also in the process of breaking up and they've missed that. Happily only 1 car in 10 produces a clunk rather than 99/100. I can live with that for now.

[breezer]

It is in some (all?) councils policy to fix potholes/poor surfaces once they have been reported by the public, they are legally accountable once this has happened.
I know in coventry if you report a pot hole it is usually filled within a week. (usually with putty that immediately starts to break up)

Breezer

[Ajax]

Arond here they say "Your road is #5 on our priority list. We only have enough money to work on the top 3 this year." But they say that every year.

[The PIT]

Originally posted by breezer
It is in some (all?) councils policy to fix potholes/poor surfaces once they have been reported by the public, they are legally accountable once this has happened.
I know in coventry if you report a pot hole it is usually filled within a week. (usually with putty that immediately starts to break up)

Breezer

Maybe but people don't complain. Like you say though the way it's been fixed won't last for long.

The state of roads can't really all be blamed on the councils. The person whos fault it really is is Margaret Thatcher. Forcing councils to go private companies brought in the cowboys. Whether they inspect the work afterwards and a month afterwards is another matter. In Sheffield we had a brilliant Bus service run by the council. No one needed to use the car as the bus service was regular, cheaper than going by car and reliable. The roads were empty apart from buses less traffic less wear and tear.
You can blame the council for not unblocking drains which of course causes lots of damage though.

[Dilitante1]

do what someone back home did, they took flourescent paint and circled every pothole the town said wasnt there. The road was hot patched in a matter of a few days when everyone saw the carnage.

[The PIT]

Well it's working lose already.

[spadnos]

About 10-15 years ago, we had a guy who planted trees in some of the more dangerous potholes.
He did this after an ambulance broke an axle on the way to an emergency.

He was nicknamed "The Pothole Bandit". It still took like 6 months before the holes were filled in.

- Steve

[The PIT]

Well the saga continues.

The 1st repair lasted two days. They repaired it again this Tuesday and it's failed already.

At least I got two nights good sleep last week. I was surprised what a differance the absent clunk made. Had too use ear plugs last night.

It might help it dug out all the old broken tarmac. Put in some proper new stuff and then made sure vehicles drove round it until the new tarmac set. They don't seem to realise that.

[Tjalfe]

Originally posted by spadnos
About 10-15 years ago, we had a guy who planted trees in some of the more dangerous potholes.
He did this after an ambulance broke an axle on the way to an emergency.

He was nicknamed "The Pothole Bandit". It still took like 6 months before the holes were filled in.

- Steve

Excellent idea.. perhaps worth a try

[The PIT]

If I did that someone drive into it.
Much better if I could persuade the cover to fall into the hole and then it would look like the councils fault.

[UtwigMU]

It's not the council, you're just becoming grumpy.

[spadnos]

Originally posted by The PIT
If I did that someone drive into it.
Much better if I could persuade the cover to fall into the hole and then it would look like the councils fault.

Too bad they're round

- Steve

[Sasq]

Record it on a tape. find where your local council member lives, and go and play it next to his/her bedroom window at 3am in the morning.

Share the lurve

[KvHagedorn]

hehe

go out there in the wee hours and dig it up big time.. then someone will crash and probably sue the council. Their lawyers will then smack them around and force them to fix things.

[The PIT]

Originally posted by spadnos
Too bad they're round

- Steve

In this case it's square.

In fact the state is much worse when they first started repairing it. The level of repair work belongs to a pavement.

Of course the problem is also city wide but this isn't surprising considering they can't do basic repairs in the first place.