Cars damaged by 'absolutely ridiculous' Rockingham Hill potholes

Highways bosses have said they will 'consider' including Rockingham Hill in a widespread repair scheme after many motorists came a cropper to deep potholes that have opened up in the past few weeks.

The steep hill near Corby, which runs past Rockingham Castle and is part of the A6003, is used by thousands of cars and HGVs every day.

But the road surface has historically needed to be renewed frequently because of the amount of effort needed by vehicles to climb the hill.

Since Christmas, several large potholes have opened up and the road surface has started to disintegrate in places.

Northants County Council said on Thursday (March 5) that they had been carrying out work on the defects but the Northants Telegraph could not see any recent repairs when our reporters visited on Friday.

Twelve people have reported the potholes on Northamptonshire County Council's FixMyStreet site, with one motorist saying: "The whole of Rockingham village needs resurfacing, so why patch it up, that's false economy. The job needs to be done properly.

"When it's raining these deep potholes throughout Rockingham fill with water and aren't visible. Its a serious accident waiting to happen. We have to drive a slalom to avoid them which is also dangerous."

One motorist posted on social media earlier this week that he had seen three cars with flat tyres parked on the hill at the same time. He said: "What annoys me the most is that for us to drive on these roads we have to have a roadworthy car yet the roads are not worthy enough to drive on safely."

And another who commented said: "The potholes are absolutely ridiculous. It's just a matter of time before there's a serious accident when someone swerves to avoid them. It's terrible."

And a third said: "Drove up there earlier.. thought I’d gone down a sink hole! It’s a joke."

Northamptonshire County Council Cllr Jason Smithers, cabinet member for Highways and Place, said: “We are aware of the potholes on Rockingham Hill and have been carrying out work on the defects which are a safety risk.

“We will continue to address potholes that pose a safety risk and are considering this section of road to be included in a scheme for more widespread repair work.”