'Potholes have changed how I teach learner drivers'

A driving instructor has said he has had to change the way he teaches his students due to the amount of potholes in the roads.

Paul Whitburn, 58, has operated a driving school in Nottinghamshire for 16 years, but has said he has noticed learner drivers' anxiety rise as the number of potholes have increased.

He said he now avoided roads covered in potholes with some students who "refuse" to drive down them and has had to start teaching how motorists can tackle cratered streets safely.

"I spend more and more time teaching students about them," he added. "The roads have got so much worse over the past 10 years - before, we barely spoke about potholes, now, my students always bring them up."

"Lots of students panic about them as they see other drivers suddenly swerve away from them without looking and so on," he said.

"They are concerned about damage to the vehicle, but in avoiding them, they may strike the kerb, get too close to other cars or put nearby cyclists at risk.

"I teach them to observe the situation and only swerve out of the way if it's safe, otherwise, there is no option but to go through them."

Mr Whitburn also teaches learner drivers with disabilities, for whom he says potholes pose added difficulties.

"When a vehicle shakes as it goes over a pothole, these clients find it even more difficult to control the car and their steering," he said.

"We go through them and deal with them, but it should not be this much of a hazard.

"You can always expect to see a few, but on some roads you can see between 20 and 30. That just is not acceptable."

Mr Whitburn said he had spent £1,000 on repairs to his car caused by potholes over the last 14 months and had one student suffer a blowout during a lesson.

He added: "Myself and the student discussed the pothole on approach - to which he said - 'what pothole?'

"He was, unfortunately, too late.

"I only swerve or steer the wheel out of the way if we are in an emergency. Having to do that knocks students' confidence."

Mr Whitburn said there were a number of roads riddled with potholes on his patch - and highlighted Digby Avenue, Mapperley, as a particular problem, as it was on a test route.

He said: "Digby Avenue is already near a school and lots of parked cars, and when the potholes are everywhere, it's really hard to be safe.

"Your car shakes so much... it is almost comical."

The government has announced £1.6bn funding for national road repairs and the Department for Transport (DfT) has warned English councils they will be ranked according to their process in fixing potholes.

A Nottinghamshire County Council highways manager said: "We actively monitor the condition of all roads in Nottinghamshire through routine inspections and reports of defects we receive from residents and road users.

"We're pleased to say that 40 sites in the district are due to benefit from road/footway resurfacing or surface treatments.

"Where residents notice potholes, we ask that they continue to report them to us either through our website or the MyNOTTS App."

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