THERE are a cluster of potholes along the London Road, Wheatley, which have had shoddy repair work done on them many times – if my memory serves me right, I would say that number of times is at least seven.

And these same potholes are in need of repair once again.

It would be interesting to know how much this shoddy repair has cost. There are also many other parts of the road which have had the same shoddy repair work done.

The ones responsible for all this waste of money seem to me to have very little common sense. They seem not to know that it is much cheaper to do a repair right first time than do shoddy repairs many times over.

Years ago, I worked for Associated Asphalt, repairing large patches on roads and potholes. What we used them to fill with was hot asphalt and when the repair was complete hot tar was poured around where the new Tarmac met the old, giving a waterproof seal.

We also raised any drain covers that were below the road surface – such lowered drain covers give a car’s suspension the same punishment as a pothole.

Before any pothole was filled with hot Tarmac, the edges were jackhammered to give them a clean, upright edge. Potholes are now filled with a cold something that is similar to hot tarmac to look at – they are no longer sealed.

The reason why today’s repairs last a very short time.

BOB WISE
Fullers Field
Great Milton