Pothole Patriot: Motorist’s DIY Fix Sparks Fury from Private Road Company

Law enforcement and the Public Works Department in Cornwall, England, are searching for a mysterious motorist who allegedly took matters into their own hands and filled a giant pothole in the middle of the road with cement.

British citizens are well aware of the poor condition of the roads, but the residents of Cornwall faced added trouble avoiding the area at the top of Tanhouse Road and Bodmin Hill in Lostwithiel due to a huge pothole in the middle of the tarmac.

This road was officially closed at the beginning of April, with a spokesperson for the Cornwall Council blaming ongoing drainage issues for the road’s surface deterioration.

After a month of complete government inaction, one anonymous individual became frustrated with the giant pothole and decided to fill it with concrete over the first weekend in May. The DIY repair temporarily worked, and the road was reopened for a short period. However, the Cornwall Council’s road repair company, Cormac, closed the road again because their team hadn’t performed the work officially.

Now, the chiefs of Cornwall Highways are on the hunt for the person responsible. They noted that the work had been done by an anonymous individual who had removed the signs without consent.

The company stated that the road was set to be closed until June 9th to address the backlog of pothole repairs. One of the managers for Cornwall Highways mentioned, “If information regarding who carried out the works becomes known in the community, I would be grateful if details could be shared.” The Cornwall Councilor for Lanreath and Lostwithiel, Colin Martin, said this pothole was the “perfect metaphor for the way the entire public sector is crumbling due to underinvestment.”

Speaking to Cornwall Live, Mr. Martin stated, “The latest is that the road has been closed again and will remain closed until it is ‘properly’ repaired by Cormac, but they say this could be weeks away as all available teams have been diverted to filling smaller potholes on roads which are still open. Over the past two years, the Conservatives running Cornwall Council have cut the budget for road resurfacing and proactive maintenance. As a result of this short-sighted decision, potholes are now appearing across Cornwall faster than Cormac can fill them in.”

This is not the first time a citizen has taken on a city’s job. In 2017, a resident of Toronto noticed that the community garden needed a new set of park stairs. The city estimated it would cost about $65,000 to $150,000, so the man built it himself for a mere $550. Of course, the city was not happy at all. Read on to find out what they did.