A LANDLORD is warning that flooding on the main road outside his pub will cause a serious accident if measures are not taken to alleviate the problem.

George Kirby, who runs The Unity Brook Inn, in Manchester Road, Kearsley, fears poor drainage, falling leaves and a ‘hidden dip’ in the road, are creating perilous conditions for motorists and other road users.

The most recent flooding happened on Thursday afternoon, when highways workers from Bolton Council were again called out to clear drains of leaves to ease the flood hazard.

Mr Kirby believes a tragedy is inevitable if a more long-term solution to the problem is not found.

He said: “There’s definitely going to be an accident if it’s not sorted out, especially when it gets darker, because it’s in a dip you don’t see it until the last minute.

“It’s ridiculous the amount of water that collects, we get cars coming down here and because it’s in a hidden dip they’re slamming on their brakes when they realise the puddles are there.”

He added: "I’ve got it on video with other cars nearly going into the back of them. And obviously HGVs can’t stop so easily.

“Last night it was very, very close, how someone didn’t have an accident I don’t know.”

The 44-year-old publican says ‘serious flooding’ occurs five or six times a year after heavy rain and, at its worst, can result in water getting into his cellar and the pub itself.

He said: “We have to ring the council on a regular basis. Every time we get a bit of decent rainfall we have to ring the council.

“When it’s been raining for an hour or an hour-and-a-half the rain does start coming into the pub. It gets into the cellar at first but also gets into the pub. The water is a good eight or nine foot from the kerb.”

Mr Kirby also said that people are unable to stand at the nearby bus-stop as they are drenched in flood water by the passing traffic.

And he now wants to see the problem solved once and for all.

“They council comes out plunging the drains out but it doesn’t always work. On some occasions in the past they’ve had to come back and do it again.”

Kearsley ward councillor Liam Irvin, said flooding on the road has been an issue for the 32 years he has lived in the area. He agrees a long-term answer to the problem is now needed.

He said: “I’m going to ask highways to try and find a permanent solution for this. I’m in the process of sending a letter. It’s gone on for a long, long while. Every autumn when the leaves begin to fall it clogs up and the council has to come and unblock the drains.”

He added: “It is dangerous, but it’s like any road that starts to flood because of bad drainage. Traffic will swerve out of the way to avoid the water and if something is coming the other way there’s a possibility of a collision.”

A Bolton Council spokesman said: “We have had some reports of this location flooding over the years. We always clean up the gully pots as soon as we are able to when we receive reports. On the last occasion there were some leaves over the grid which caused the drainage issue, and we cleared this up within a few hours.”