A MAN in Bere Alston has complained to the council on two separate occasions to fill the thirty-six potholes down his road. He counted!

Graham Reed, who lives on Trendle Lane in Bere Alston, has labelled the road as “borderline undriveable” with the minefield of holes littering the lane.

The rural road sees more traffic then one would suspect, with crafty commuters cutting through to Cornwall.

The mischievous motorists are usually in for a bumpy surprise, however, as Trendle Lane has scraped more bumpers then someone wearing a blindfold at a bowling alley.

“Myself and my neighbours have spent weeks trying to get the council to do something.

“They finally turned up last week and they filled 11 of the 36 holes, and they left the worst ones,” Graham said.

According to the Devon County Council’s website: “We have experienced a significant increase in the number of potholes being reported.

“With pothole numbers higher than we’d like in the weeks ahead, we will be working with increased resources across the county in an attempt to keep on top of them – in December and January alone, we repaired almost 7,000 potholes.”

In order for a pothole to be filled by the council, it must meet an elusive set of criteria, and be deemed a “safety defect”.

According to Graham, when the workmen showed up they told him that they had designated holes that they were authorised to repair, and perhaps more baffling, had to fill them in a specific order.

As a result, their large work vehicle was up-and-down Trendle Lane, a six-and-a-half foot wide road, for a good while, unable to just work from one side to the other in one fell swoop.

Graham pointed out the flaws in their system, describing it as “inefficient, and a waste of our taxpayers’ money”.

Pothole mania has been hot on the minds of Tavonians, with local man David Newcombe setting up a Facebook page entitled “Tavistock Pot Hole Club”.

David has enlisted support from Sir Geoffrey Cox , MP for Torridge and West Devon, who is lobbying for an increase in road mending budgets from his Government.