Bedford Driving Lessons

Motorists face a postcode lottery of road quality due to the failure of local authorities to agree a definition of what exactly constitutes a pothole. When is a pothole not a pothole? It may sound a simple question, but councils up and down the country have failed to agree on an answer. More than two million potholes need fixing in Britain following the winter freeze, but a baffling array of official definitions regarding what exactly constitutes a pothole means that motorists and pedestrians face a postcode lottery of highway standards. Some councils’ policies stipulate four or more different categories of priority depending on a pothole’s depth and width. Nearly all assess potholes in roads in a different way from those on footpaths. Paul Watters, the head of public affairs at the AA, said: “It is a pain that there are all these differences. “I hope that it is not a manifestation of budget issues, it may instead be a manifestation of priorities. More