Potholes in road, Grove park road, Weston, Emma Kimsey.

Mum’s pushchair pothole anger

Report by Tom Wright , Reporter Thursday, September 15, 2011
7:00 AM

A WESTON mother is unhappy with the council after her daughter’s £280 pushchair was ruined by potholes.

Emma Kimsey, who lives in Grove Park Road, had to replace three-month old Amelie’s pushchair after just three months when the wheels were bent out of shape.

She said big cracks in the pavement caused the problem and was unimpressed when advised by the shop to buy an off-road buggy instead.

Ms Kimsey was unhappy with the manufacturers, Hauck, that it proved so brittle.

She said: “When you pay £280, you expect a product to be of a high standard, especially a pushchair.”

Kirsty Pomphrey, owner of The Children Company where the buggy was bought, said it was rare to get a problem this bad.

She said: “We sell lots of them [Hauck pushchairs]. I have seen them slightly bent before but not in all my time have I seen anything as bad as that.”

A spokesman for North Somerset Council admitted the road needed resurfacing.

She said: “Grove Park Road is in need of repair and is on a priority list for work. We hope to carry out some patching work this year.

“Large potholes that meet a set size and depth are treated as urgent and filled within 24 hours. To our knowledge there isn’t anything in Grove Park Road that meets this.”

4 comments

HA trying riding a notorbike round wesston then you will know the dangers of potholes ive seen bikers thrown all over the road especially on Locking road ....ok the ladys buggy was damaged least it wasnt her life that was in danger its about time the roads and pavements were sorted out not just patched up

Report this comment

gruf

Thursday, September 15, 2011
Its the daily use on a badly maintained footpath that causes the damage rather than one pothole. Its the same with the roads...although one pothole may cause damage its the constant bumping on uneven surfaces that cause equal problems over a longer period of time. As the council have admitted that the footpath is in need of maintenance i should think their insurance would cover the cost of a new pushchair. Its unbelievable to think you are advised to buy an off road buggy to push along the pavements of Weston...infact its a disgrace.

Report this comment

T-Bone

Thursday, September 15, 2011
Grove Park Road is bad. She lives in Grove Park Road, so can't really avoid it. Sustained use over a bad road will probably trash anything. The huge size that a pothole needs to get before it's repaired, the long wait for repairs and the awful quality of repairs are scandalous. Repaired areas are usually still uneven and often pothole again within weeks, as water and traffic hit the uneven edges. I feel that North Somerset Council is failing to manage its repair contractors properly, letting them do substandard work. Also, there's probably nothing "to our knowledge" because they seem to wait for complaints rather than actually check the roads.

Report this comment

M

Thursday, September 15, 2011
Surely she could just steer her pushchair to avoid any major potholes!!?? Can't see how it would cause that much damage unless she's going over them at 50mph!!

Report this comment

ssjja

Thursday, September 15, 2011