Lancashire County Council carries out urgent repairs on 'moon crater' sized pothole in Station Road, Lytham
Urgent repairs on a massive pothole described as the size of a moon crater have been carried out in Lytham.
Drivers navigating Station Road this week spotted a pothole so large it was likened to a ‘moon crater’.
The gaping hole, thought to been caused by the recent cold weather, caused major disruption for motorists until it was temporarily repaired by Lancashire County Council.
Witnesses said they saw seen cars swervng to avoid the pothole in Station Road.
Highways bosses at Lancashire County Council confirmed three potholes on Station Road were made safe yesterday morning with temporary materials. They added more permanent repairs have been ordered.
One Lytham councillor has called for better road maintenance after he said he was recently left with a hefty repair bill for his car.
Cllr Mark Bamforth, who represents Lytham East on Fylde Council said: "There are quite a few potholes on the main streets in Lytham and they’re not being properly repaired
“Last time my car went into the garage because of the road conditions, it cost me over £1,200 and I don’t drive much, I mostly travel locally.
“It was suspension and struts that needed fixing.
“I think our roads really need better maintenance, I’ve never known them this bad.
“When we have heavy weather, it makes things worse. Water gets into the holes, freezes, expands, and makes the potholes bigger.
“There’s a particularly bad one on Station Road near the DIY store and another outside St. John’s Court on Warton Street.
“There’s very little repair work being done.
“Often, issues only get attention if there’s an outcry on Facebook, but even then, reports can be ignored.
“As a councillor, I report problems to the council highways and half the time, nothing happens. When they do fix it, it’s just a quick patch, and the pothole comes back almost immediately.”
A spokesman for Lancashire County Council said: "Our roads carry over 4.6million journeys a day, and we fix around 3,400 potholes each month.
"Potholes are caused by wet and cold weather and followed by the freezing conditions early this year, means that our roads have suffered a lot of damage recently. We triage all requests and respond to these in order of priority.
"Our Managed Service model delivers bigger, longer lasting repairs, tripling the average fix size and as a single provider it replaced multiple contractors, freeing council teams to focus on urgent work and resurfacing."