Road Closed sign
Mayukh Saha
Mayukh Saha
May 26, 2023 ·  2 min read

Officials search for mystery motorist who filled large pothole with concrete

Law enforcement, as well as the Public Works Department in Cornwall, England, have been looking for a mysterious motorist who allegedly took matters into their hands and filled up a giant pothole in the middle of the road with cement. British people are well aware that the roads aren’t always the best, but the locals of Cornwall had to go through added trouble to avoid the area at the top of Tanhouse Road and Bodmin Hill in Lostwithiel due to the huge hole that was in the middle of the tarmac. This road was closed officially at the beginning of April, with one of the spokespersons for the Cornwall Council accusing an ongoing kerfuffle with drainage as to why the road’s surface had deteriorated. 

But, after a month of complete government inactivity, one anonymous individual got pretty irritated with the giant pothole and decided to fill it with concrete themselves over the first weekend in May. The DIY repair did work for a bit, and the road was reopened for a short period. But the Cornwall Council’s road repair company Cormac closed the road yet again simply because their team hadn’t done this work officially. Now, the chiefs of Cornwall Highways are on the hunt to look for the person responsible for this. They also mentioned that the work had been done by an anonymous individual who had removed the signs without consent. 

The pothole that has been fixed by a private motorist.
Image Credits: Colin Martin | Facebook

The company mentioned that the road was set to be closed until 9th June, after it catches up with 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, mentioned that this pothole was the “perfect metaphor for the way that 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 took upon himself the job of the city. In 2017, a resident of Toronto saw that the community garden could really do with a new set of park stairs. However, the according to the city’s estimates 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, so read on to find out what they did.

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Sources

  1. Highway officials searching for mystery motorist who filled huge pothole with concrete.” Lad Bible. Emily Brown. May 16, 2023.