Fuming motorists have told how tyre-shredding potholes on a city street claimed five victims in the space of minutes.
One driver, Kyle Johnston, 23, spoke to Edinburgh Live when he was forced to pull over in Craigmillar after he burst a tyre while driving home from the shops on Tuesday night, January 3.
Not long after he had stopped in a parking space, he explained how four other cars joined him after being hit by the potholes on Craigmillar Castle Road. One driver was even left to pay for two burst tyres.
READ NEXT- Scottish couple 'lose everything but clothes on their backs' in devastating floods
Kyle said: "The roads in Edinburgh are bad [for potholes] to start with! I was driving home from the shop, it was getting dark, and I took the back road with just my dim-lights on. I was trying to be careful because I knew there were potholes on the opposite side to the road, coming down the way. When I am on that side, I do try to avoid it but I didn't know there was one on the left hand side, towards Craigmillar.
Sign up to Edinburgh Live newsletters for more headlines straight to your inbox
"I was going about 25 miles per hour up that road because is narrow anyway, but there was a car coming in the opposite side and I slowed down and allowed it passed, but I went over the pothole.
The young driver from Niddrie added: "Next thing I know I'm half way up the road and I feel my car's getting a bit slower and I got out at the nearest car park to check and saw I had a puncture. But not only me, three other cars turned up at the same location as me that all had a puncture and there were two other guys who had a puncture on the left hand side, same as me.
"While we were waiting for the RAC to come and fix it, so we could get home, someone else turned up with another punctured tyre."
He admitted that that first glance the potholes don't look that bad, but he added: "Then again, potholes are potholes. If you hit them at a certain speed they can always knacker your car."
While the road in Craigmillar had stricken his motor, Kyle said it's nothing compared to Greendykes Road. "You've got weave through the road to avoid the potholes. Earlier a car actually waited at the end of the road so that I could come through without hitting the potholes."
It comes as it was revealed that the City of Edinburgh Council paid out £2,060.30 last year in compensation to owners of vehicles damaged by potholes, down from £6,113.32 in the previous year.
Edinburgh Live recently reported that due to the bad weather, potholes had become worse with residents hitting out at the latest craters appearing on Belford Bridge, near to Dean Village. A City of Edinburgh Council spokesperson confirmed that road officers had received enquiries over the public holidays and will be inspecting the road defect today.
Councillor Scott Arthur, Transport and Environment Convener, said: “Our roads team work extremely hard within a very limited budget to make sure our roads are repaired as quickly as possible. Of course we appreciate the frustration road defects like potholes can cause, but it’s essential that we direct limited resources where needed, so our roads continue to be usable and safe.
“At the end of next month we’ll be carrying out patching works on Craigmillar Castle Road to improve the road surface and as part of our capital investment programme Greendykes Road will be fully resurfaced, with works programmed to start before the end of this financial year. However, I would encourage people to report road and pavement issues to us on our website.”
READ NEXT-
Edinburgh residents in upmarket neighbourhood hit out at pothole-ridden bridge
Prince William 'ordered plane to leave without Harry' in rush to dying Queen
Edinburgh cop's business with woman he had extra-marital affair with in car fails
My 600lb Life's Paula Jones looks unrecognisable in swimwear after epic weight loss
Prince Harry was 'physically attacked' during confrontation with William
