Pothole caused a ‘hole’ lot of problems

THE two front tyres on a West Cork woman’s car were damaged by huge potholes on the road near her home.

Gina Meehan said that when she hit the seemingly ever-present potholes on the road from Rineen to Creamery Cross, on the Castletownshend Road, it caused one tyre to blow out completely.

She said she went to the garage to replace the tyre and they confirmed that the other front tyre had also been badly damaged from a pothole she hit a couple of days earlier.

A few weeks before, Gina said she had noticed a County Council crew fixing the holes, which she estimated were about 2ft in diameter and about five inches deep.

‘I thought the problem was solved,’ she said, ‘so I drove over what I thought was a puddle.’ That ‘puddle’ was hiding a newly-formed pothole, which cost Gina €140 when she replaced both tyres.

She told The Southern Star that she immediately contacted Cllr Danny Collins (Ind) and he agreed to raise the matter with the local authority. He also advised her to pursue a claim against the Council for damages.

‘The process for claiming has changed,’ Cllr Collins told The Southern Star. ‘People seeking restitution will have to contact the Council’s insurers, IPP, directly and give them the number of the road and upload photographs of the damage done.

‘Due to the severe bad weather over the winter months,’ Cllr Collins said, ‘our roads are collapsing.

‘Lockdown hasn’t helped matters either because resurfacing works that were scheduled to take place are on hold.’