4:24pm Friday 12th March 2010
By Edmund Tobin
A HUGE pothole which broke the wheel on a woman's van had been left unrepaired despite causing similar damage to a BMW several weeks before.
The Guardian reported earlier this month how Sue Cord, 53, of Ongar Road, Abridge, had been driving her Renault Kangoo down Epping Lane, when she hit a pothole so deep it broke the ball joint on one of her wheels.
Robert Milliken, 58, of Lee Grove, Chigwell, said his BMW has suffered similar damage full two weeks before in the exact same spot and he had even written afterwards to the county council to tell them of the danger presented by the road.
He said: “I was driving from Abridge towards Epping and it was dark at about 6.30pm when I went down this hole. It was so big it was like hitting a brick wall. I continued to go down the road and I ended up in another one.
“The only reason I was able to carry on was because my BMW has high impact tyres fitted but the next day I noticed two great big bubbles on my tyres. They were so bad the tyres were ruined and I knew what had happened.
“I took it to the garage and they said, not only are the tyres done in, one of the axles is warped and the other has a black spot on it and I'd need two new alloy wheels.”
Mr Milliken has since been charged £941.72 + VAT to fix his car, and, like Mrs Cord, he intends to send the bill to the council.
“When I put in the claim there's all sorts of forms to fill out. Well they're not going to put me off,” he said. “I'll take them to the small claims court if I have to.
“They're just not doing their job. When I'm driving to work I find I'm not looking at the traffic, I'm looking at the road to see if there's potholes there's so many of them. It must be costing them more in repairs to cars than it would to repair the road.”
Essex County Council has been asked to comment.
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