Is this the most notorious pothole in Milton Keynes?

Kieron Theed reported gaping four inch deep hole to MK Council on February 7 and was told it was not serious enough for any action to be taken.

Less than three weeks later he drove over it again - only to hear a massive bang that burst his tyre, damaged his wheel and broke a shock absorber.

Kieron posted his experience on Facebook and had replies from more than 100 people - all complaining about the same pothole.

Situated on the A5 roundabout, near the exit towards Hodge Lea and Stacey Bushes, it has allegedly caused damage to dozens of cars.

“I can’t believe how many people are complaining about this one hole, and yet the council still think it’s not bad enough to repair,” said Keiron.

He is now attempting to claim through the council’s insurers for the damage to his car.

To rub salt in the wound, he’s been told it could take 90 days to process the claim - due to a “spike” in the number of pothole claims.

MK Council’s website shows three other complaints have been logged about the A5 roundabout pothole.

In response to Kieron’s claim on February 7, the council emailed: “We have now carried out an inspection and concluded that it does not require immediate remedial work in line with the council’s current polices, therefore no further action will be taken at this stage.”

The pothole is four inches (100mm) deep , says Kieron, who and went out with measuring stick (see photo) to get a precise measurement.

Potholes of 50mm (two inches) or less are not considered by Milton Keynes Council to be serious enough to require immediate remedial action. But the council’s website pledges to make safe any pothole over 75mm deep within two to 24 hours.

“So why haven’t they done this one?” said Keiron.

The Citizen asked MK Council if the pothole will now be repaired. A spokesman said: “This matter is subject to investigation and an insurance claim, so it is inappropriate to comment at this stage.”

However on Tuesday the council’s Labour Cabinet announced an immediate £200,000 to fix over 5000 potholes in the next few months with a new state of the art “turbo filler” repair machine to MK for a two month period.

The spray injection patching machine can reduce the cost of repairing a pothole by up to 40% whilst taking approximately half the time of a conventional repair.

Councillor Martin Gowans, Cabinet member responsible for highways, said that the wet weather over winter followed by the recent cold and snow, has increased the number of potholes that need immediate repair..

The Cabinet also agreed the test a new repair system where rather than simply fixing one deep pothole, whole “clusters” will be fixed regardless of depth to save money in the long term and improve the road surface, and shift more cash to repairing redways and pavements.

The extra cash will be funded by small amounts of underspent budgets and will not impact other services.