A mighty £118m is going to be spent on maintenance of roads in Lincolnshire over the coming year and a large part of that budget will go to fix pot holes.
Drivers are spending thousands of pounds with wheel repairs and tyre replacements being sought on an almost daily basis.
And there are fears that as people swerve to drive the ‘pot hole chicane’ a fatal accident could be the result of failing road surfaces.
Both the A16 and the A17 are heavily criticised for being peppered with deep holes, while many more rural roads are also under fire.
The county council has been trying out the Pothole Pro machine and if it is added to the armoury, there will be plenty of work for it.
With trials lasting a year, it hasn’t been approved, but the JCB-manufactured machine is said to be hi-tech help for highways.
It has been in use across the county since late last year and results of its trial will be known later this year.
The state of the roads in Lincolnshire is reflected nationwide – with reports of an 18 per cent rise in pothole damage from the AA. And the RAC has reported significant increases in damage to tyres, wheels and suspension equipment.
It estimated that each mile of council-controlled roadway currently has an average of six pot holes.
But Lincolnshire County Council has a huge work plan of road maintenance and has received an unprecedented 5,000 reports of pot holes so far this year – more than double the usual amount during January and early February.
Jonathan Evans, head of Highways at the county council said: “Freezing conditions combined with intermittent rain created numerous freeze/thaw cycles that hit the roads hard and with the relentless wet weather recently, the road network condition has naturally suffered.
“As a result, the amount of fault reports received via the Customer Service Centre and FixMyStreet has been extremely high throughout January and the first few weeks of February. We raised around 5,400 pothole repairs this January alone. For context, that’s over 2,000 more than January 2025, showing how devastating this winter has been.
“To deal with this fluctuating demand on the roads, we’ve adjusted our resources accordingly. Right now, to ensure that we don’t get behind in fixing the potholes, we’ve brought in an additional 21 gangs to ensure that our roads remain safe.
“However, we know that the long-term solution to improving the roads in Lincolnshire is resurfacing schemes and preventive maintenance to extend their life.”
The issue of 24-hour pothole repairs was one of the subjects of a marathon council meeting on Friday when members were in a total of seven hours of discussions – mostly budgetary.
Drivers are paying the price for hitting a pot hole – with blown tyres, bent wheels or suspension springs snapped.
Holbeach Tyres has seen a rapid rise in customer numbers as a result of hitting a pot hole with blown tyres and damaged alloys adding to the repair bill.
“We are seeing two to three times what we would normally expect at this time of the year. We had a customer with a Jaguar who had blown a front and rear tyre and damaged both wheels in a pot hole. His wheels were £800 each plus a tyre on top of that – not much change out of £2,000,” said business owner David Tinn.
“It can be a very expensive business and most people don’t claim off their insurance because of the excess and premiums going up as a result.
“We have sent 140 alloy wheels to be repaired over the last year and that’s a big number. Alloys on most cars are low profile. A taller tyre with a bigger wall will ride over the pot hole and a 4×4 wouldn’t feel it. But a 21-inch alloy with a low profile tyre is in trouble.”
The story is the same at Spalding Tyres, Cradge Bank, where manager Zed Bitar said there had been a high number of damaged alloy wheels because of the pot holes in the area.
“Some alloys crack – others dent. We have seen a lot of problems.”
Bent alloys and blown tyres are also making a regular appearance at Bush Tyres in Spalding where manager Stefan Busby said the fact most drivers don’t carry a full spare means the problem is compounded as they have to be recovered.
“We get people brought in by the RAC and AA and they have hit pot holes which have blown tyres – it’s been more this year.”
F1 Auto Centre on Wardentree Lane has also seen more cracked alloys and blown tyres than a ‘normal’ year without major pot hole issues.
“It can be £2-300 for an alloy and then a tyre on top, which can be up to £150 depending on the type. I drive a lowered car and have put a sign in to say why I’m weaving in and out – the pot holes on my way home are huge,” said assistant manager Ben Young.
Drivers have taken to social media to outline their frustration at an apparent lack of action.
“If a motorcyclist comes down there in the dark and they don’t know the road, they are highly likely to end up dead,” said Tracey Robinson (commenting about the A17)
“That stretch of road leading up to Gedney roundabout is shocking. Never seen it quite that bad, the pot holes are huge,” added Clare Pickering.
“The A16 is diabolical. A major highway, I’m absolutely ****y fuming,” said Nick DeVault.
The High Bridge in Spalding has been reported several times and ‘repaired’ by the council, with the surface breaking-up again soon after.
“This issue turned out to be more complicated than we first thought,” says a message on the FixMyStreet portal where problems can be reported by members of the public.
“Progress – works are now planned” the message continues, with no date for resolution.
The same message appears for holes on the junction of Hawthorn Bank and St Johns Road.
And the approach to the Gedney roundabout on the A17 has been described as a ‘lunar landscape’ by one motorist.
“I just buy part-worns (tyres) now as the last three or four haven’t worn anywhere near the limit. They died from our roads,” said another.
