Vigilante spends hour fixing giant pothole before council leaves him stunned

23 May 2023 , 18:22

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Paul Jackson fixed the pothole on his road (Image: Paul Jackson)

A man decided he "had enough" after seeing "dangerous" potholes damaging cars took matters into his own hands.

Paul Jackson used two bags of concrete to fill a pothole outside his home last week.

He says it had been there for "several weeks". The pothole was estimated to be 15 to 20 centimetres deep and had been reported to the council.

Paul, who lives in Exeter, says that within an hour of him filling the pothole a team came out to dig out the concrete and repair it themselves.

He also says that some other potholes in the local area have also since been repaired. The work has been welcomed by residents who have reported damage being caused to their cars by the potholes.

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This pothole had damaged cars before it was fixed (Paul Jackson)

Paul told DevonLive: "It shouldn’t be down to us to fill in our own potholes. At what point does it become a safety concern for cyclists, motorbikes and damage to vehicles? The council/highways are a joke.

"The pothole had damaged someone’s car and had been reported by many people to the council. It was just a really bad pothole and was like it for weeks.

"I’d had enough of driving into it and I’d read people claiming damages to their cars on the Whipton Community Group Facebook page so thought I’d sort it out before a cyclist or motorbike went through it. I used a couple of bags of cement to fill it over.

"Lots of people passing were making positive comments but also mentioning the state of their road and potholes yet to be fixed. I believe someone may have contacted Highways to report someone filling it in as they came about an hour after to fill the hole.

"Two trucks and about half a dozen workers came to cut it out and fill it back in. Was it a strange coincidence? They filled the other holes in the same area on different days bizarrely."

A Devon County Council spokesperson said: "We cannot condone work being carried out on public roads without consent and anyone doing so is putting themselves and other road users at risk. This pothole was reported to our highways teams on Tuesday, May 2, and they repaired it on Wednesday, May 17, digging out the concrete before carrying out the repair.

"We have additional crews carrying out pothole repairs across the county and they have filled more than 23,000 safety defects so far this year."

The Mirror contacted Devon County Council for a comment.

Anita Merritt