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At best, potholed roads make for a bumpy ride; at worst, they can cause both serious damage to your vehicle and even personal injury. And London, like the rest of the UK, is full of potholes – but did you know that one of the capital’s boroughs has more potholes than anywhere else in the country?
Well, it’s true. According to data experts over at Smart Survey, a London borough leads the way when it comes to the total number of potholes. Smart Survey got its data from FixMyStreet.com, where locals can report stuff like potholes, graffiti, fly tipping and so on.
As of last week (January 29, to be exact), the north London borough of Barnet apparently had a whopping 4,656 holes in its roads. It also has a ‘fix rate’ of just 32.6 percent, meaning the majority of those potholes don’t get fixed.
So, why’s Barnet so bad for potholes? Well, there are likely a few reasons. Not only is it a massive borough (with, logically, lots of roads), but it also has pretty high levels of car ownership and a few massive, high-traffic roads like the M1, North Circular and the Finchley Road.
Barnet Council obviously isn’t too happy about Smart Survey’s study. Councillor Alan Schneiderman said: ‘We are proposing to invest over £100million over five years to repair roads and tackle potholes.
‘The data cited is also misrepresentative of the facts. The most urgent potholes are fixed within 24 hours and all others between seven and 28 days.
‘Barnet is disproportionately affected by potholes with one of the largest road networks in London. Barnet also has amongst the highest volume of vehicle movements a day in London of which 1000 are HGVs.’
Barnet isn’t the only London borough to get called out on its potholes. Last year it was Islington’s turn to be named the UK’s ‘pothole capital’ – you can read all about that on Time Out here.
Did you see that Londoners are officially Britain’s unhappiest commuters?
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