MOTORISTS hit out at the state of a road in Taunton after their cars had a tyre blown by a pothole.
Wayne Sprangle was driving into Taunton this morning, Wednesday, December 29, near the Orchard Grove development on the A38, at the new Rumwell roundabout, when a pothole blew a tyre of his car.
Other drivers shared Mr Sprangle's concerns saying the road defects started on Christmas Day.
The damages to Mr Sprangle's tyre
Somerset County Council Highway said the location is within a construction site of a new roundabout, which is part of a private-led project.
Mr Sprangle said he saw “at least 10 cars” with a blown tyre and said that the stretch of A38 is “a mess”.
He also said the road has been in that state for “a number of days”, while other road users claimed the bad conditions started on Christmas Day.
Mr Sprangle said: “I was driving back from the gym and unfortunately I didn’t have time to avoid it.
“When you are in a line of traffic and the car in front of you makes a swift change in direction you don’t have much time.
“I have seen at least 10 cars with blown tyres and when I went to the garage they said they had received 15 calls about popped tyres.
“It’s quite a narrow street and when there’s someone in front of you and everyone swerves, you follow suit, so I just hit it.”
Mr Sprangle also said he has seen cars stopping in a lay-by with flat tyres.
He added: “If you do this work you have to be on top of it. I have seen at least 10 cars this morning. It’s madness.
“You can’t expect people, road users, to pay for this. I want someone to pay for it.”
The pothole damaging cars
Another motorist, Hugh Duder, said he was driving back to Taunton from Brixham when he got a puncture at 9pm on Christmas Day.
He was out there again this morning and saw three cars parked up with punctures and 2 RAC vans, he also added.
A spokesperson for Somerset County Council Highway said: “This location is within the construction site of the new roundabout which is a private developer-led project.
“The county council has now contacted the developer and today [Wednesday, December 29] contractors will be working to repair the road defect. “The location means that traffic will need to be held back and as a result, traffic heading into Taunton this afternoon on the A38 may be subject to long delays.”
The County Gazette tried to contact the developers for comments but they were not available at the time of publishing.
Highways and travel information are regularly updated on @TravelSomerset.
Motorists can report road defects by visiting www.somerset.gov.uk/roads-and-transport/report-a-pothole-or-road-defect/
The damage on the tyre of Mr Duder's car
Another image of the pothole near the construction site
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