Is this Derbyshire’s biggest pothole?

Is this the biggest pothole in Derbyshire?
Is this the biggest pothole in Derbyshire?Is this the biggest pothole in Derbyshire?
Is this the biggest pothole in Derbyshire?

Reader Dean Corbridge snapped the huge crater at the bottom of Pudding Pie Hill, Wigley, near Wigley Primary School.

Dean, who has reported the pothole to Derbyshire County Council, called for it to be fixed urgently.

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So far this month, the council has received more than 1,600 reports of the potentially dangerous defects on the county’s roads.

That is on top of a total of 1,996 reports in December last year and January this year.

We have been contacted by several drivers who have voiced concern about the state of a number of potholed roads in Derbyshire, including the 13 bends between Bakewell and Baslow.

On our Facebook page, Michelle Hawkins said: “The 13 bends is the worst I have ever seen it.”

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Hayley Anna Murcott said: “I’ve just paid the best part of £200 to sort out my car because of a stupid pothole.”

Barry Dyke said: “I would advise people to report any they find so they can be repaired.”

The authority – which needs to save £157million by 2018 because of Government cuts – insisted it was dedicated to repairing potholes.

Report them at www.derbyshire.gov.uk/reportit

Last month it emerged potholes have cost the council almost £67,000 in compensation claims in just one year.

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The council paid out £66,831 to 271 drivers whose cars were damaged in 2013/14.

A total of 614 people attempted to claim money for pothole damage in Derbyshire last year but only the 271 were successful.

During 2012/13, the council paid out £23,657 to 99 claimants for pothole damage.

The information was released in a Freedom on Information request from the RAC Foundation.

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Professor Stephen Glaister, director of the RAC Foundation, said the figures were “likely to be the tip of the iceberg” and said councils were not given enough money for roads.

“Many drivers will be put off by the time involved in claiming against a council and many authorities do their best to deter claimants coming forward,” he said.

“But the fundamental problem lies not at the doors of our town halls but with central Government. Despite occasional one-off grants related to periods of harsh weather, they are simply not giving councils enough money to keep their road networks up to scratch.”

Derbyshire County Council was awarded nearly £100,000 from the Government to fix the county’s potholes in an announcement just before Christmas.