Residents of Roseburn have hit out at their pothole-ridden community after several drivers have complained of having to fork out for repairs due to the problem.
Issues had been reported along Corstorphine Road, St John’s Road and West Coates by motorists who have suffered damage to their vehicles due to the poor surface quality in the area.
June Edgar shared images that show large craters on the road which are understood to have broken suspension arms and blown out tyres amongst creating other issues. Jennifer Russell, who owns a BMW X3 said that she has never had a car fail an MOT in over 30 years.
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But when she put her car through an MOT in September it failed due to a suspension arm being bent from a pothole on Corstorphine Road by the Roseburn shops. She says that her garage was clear that the issue had been caused by the surface.
She said: “I put my car in for its MOT and it failed due to a suspension arm being bent from a pothole. I took a picture at the time and I asked the local garage to keep the piece as I had only bought my BMW X3 not that long before the incident.
“I have never put a claim into Edinburgh City Council as I didn't know how to prove it. I do however recall the pothole as it was extreme to say the least.
“The damage to the metal suspension piece was unbelievable and made my car unroadworthy without my knowledge. My garage was clear this could only have been caused by a pothole.”
The road situation has remained a thorn in the side of drivers in the area for a number of months as Robert Wood also reported how his car was damaged shortly after Christmas on December 27.
He said: “I walked past the pothole the other day and it still hasn’t been repaired. There is a drain on St John’s road that is also a massive pothole that I usually move to the left to avoid.
“Doing that put me right through the new pothole on the road that burst my tyre. It was at night and filled with water so it was hard to see.
“I usually spend most of my time driving in Edinburgh moving left or right to avoid potholes. I’ve reported it on the council website and emailed them about claiming back the cost of the repair.
“However there’s no obvious way to make a claim from what I can see. I’ve had to email them asking for instructions. As usual they make it as hard as possible to put in a claim.
“It was £90 for a new tyre.”
Another resident, Gavin Maclean, says that he has lived in the community for 23 years but has never seen the problem as bad as it is today. He says that it is a matter of time before someone gets hurt.
He added: “I live on the main road and some of these holes are really shocking. I’ve been here 23 years and have never seen it like this. Someone - probably a cyclist - is going to get injured if they aren’t patched up soon.
“The problem is there are currently two lanes of traffic in opposite directions but they are very close to each other so there is very little room to swerve. And when it rains, the holes fill up and you can’t see them.”
Councillor Scott Arthur, the transport and environment convener said: “Council teams attended to make this section of road safe on December 28 and will revisit the location again tomorrow to inspect for any further defects.
“It is also being fully relaid as part of our City Centre West to East link project (CCWEL). I acknowledge that road maintenance in Edinburgh is underfunded, and I hope to work with other political parties to address this in the coming budget.”
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