Job’s a good ’un as Wilf’s pothole complaint pays off
9:15am Saturday 5th February 2011 in News
A CYCLING pensioner is urging people in Bolton to report potholes after a treacherous stretch of road was repaired — after he took direct action.
The work on Anchor Lane, Farnworth, is part of a £2 million plan to improve Bolton’s roads, £200,000 of which will be spent repairing potholes after problems worsened due to recent severe winter weather conditions.
Wilf Phoenix, aged 81, decided to act after spending “months”
complaining to his wife Muriel about giant potholes on the road, where he rides his bike.
Mr Phoenix decided to take photographs of the holes and send them to The Bolton News and to Streetcare, the council service for reporting road issues. And on Tuesday a team from Bolton Council repaired the potholes.
“It just goes to show you shouldn’t just moan, you should do something,”
said Mr Phoenix, a former safety officer for the Royal Bolton Hospital.
“I was kicking myself for not doing something sooner — when I was working I would tell people to report anything they saw that was dangerous straight away.”
Potholes across Bolton have been worsened by the severe winter weather, and Bolton Council recommend that anyone with concerns should send their details to the Streetcare team.
“I’m really pleased because we have been moaning about them for a while,” said Mr Phoenix. “They were quite dangerous and I was very fearful about riding my bike over them.”
A spokesperson for Bolton Council said: “We are putting in £2 million to improve the borough’s roads over the next year, of which around £200,000 is being used to repair potholes.
“A team has already been out to repair potholes on Anchor Lane after we were alerted to them by a member of the public.
“Like all authorities across the country, one of the coldest Decembers on record has seen an increase in the number of potholes and we’ve put in extra resources to deal with this as a matter of urgency.
“We have also increased the number of teams filling in potholes from six to nine.”
People can report potholes on the council’s website, bolton.gov.uk, via e-mail at streetcare@ bolton.gov.uk or by calling 01204 336600.
