Can you swim in the potholes where you live?

They are everywhere, waiting to damage your tyre when you are least expecting it.

Potholes litter roads across the UK, with some areas so bad it they feel deep enough to swim in.

And one road with a sense of humour has gone so far to rename themselves ‘Potsholeville’ after the craters remain unrepaired after years of frustrating drivers.

Residents of Old Bridge Way in Shefford, Bedfordshire, erected a ‘Welcome to Potholesville’ sign over the weekend, claiming no local authority is willing to fix it.

The road, which is the only way to access the local supermarket, has been dubbed a ‘Tough Mudder course’ by local Labour MP Alistair Strathern.

He set up a petition to pressure Central Bedfordshire Council into fixing the road.

But this led to a bit of a spat on Facebook, with councillor John Baker, executive member for highways, writing the developers who were originally responsible for the private road went bust leaving the road with no official owner.

He said: ‘[Stathern’s] job is to raise and address legal loopholes that allow developers to dodge their responsibilities, not to defend them.

‘It is not reasonable for the taxpayers of Central Bedfordshire to fund private road adoption for one company.’

The government has launched an initiative to tackle Britain’s pothole problem, investing £7.3 billion for local highway authorities to fix the roads.

Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander said: ‘For too long, drivers have paid the price because our roads were left to deteriorate. I have heard time and again their frustration on footing the bill because they hit a pothole – money they should never have to spend in the first place.’

But is this too little too late?

How bad are potholes on your road?

Well Metro readers have had their say over how bad potholes are in their area.

And unsurprisingly, road users have resorted to swimming in them.

Theresa Wilson told us: ‘When it rains they become plunge pools.’ While Cat Thomas added: ‘Some are so big if you one in a bicycle you would never be seen again.’

Phillip Buck said: ‘In my area it’s the potholes that are holding the road together.’

Readers from different corners of the UK have named and shamed their local authorities

Pam Briggs said: ‘Should see the state of them in Huddersfield in Kirklees they’re like race tracks. Disgraceful.’

‘In Northampton you spend more time dodging them than you do actually getting to where you need to be I’ve seen so many people damage there cars,’ Katherine Starmer wrote.

John Elf added: ‘It’s that bad in Tameside you need to take sea sickness pills before going out.’

A small few have reported of recent repairs to improve the condition.

But there is little hope this will last.

Neil Sayer said: ‘ The main road I live off of got resurfaced last year so it’s not bad at the moment.

‘But going by past experiences I expect it to start being dug up by various different companies for one reason or another so it will be back to the usual state it was in within another couple of years.’

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