A council received 5,000 complaints to a ‘pothole hotline’ in just ten weeks – an average of one every 20 minutes.
Plymouth City Council has been bombarded with calls from drivers and homeowners after the number was set up on January 1.
By March 6 it had received 5,290 calls from people complaining that not enough was being done to fix roads damaged during the winter’s Big Freeze.
One resident said he had counted up to 40 potholes in just a 100 yard stretch of road in the city.
Residents have blasted the council for offering a ‘short term fix’.
David Bullock, 51, of Plymouth, said: ”They’re not being patched up properly.
”They get the tarmac off the back of the lorry, chuck it in and bang it down with the back of a shovel.
”What a mess they are making of it all.”
Resident Ann Ashley said: ”It’s horrendous. Last year I complained to the council and someone came out and plonked on black tarmac. Within a few months it’s gone.”
Plymouth City Council blamed the unprecedented cold weather and said that 92 per cent of potholes were being given a temporary repair, mostly within 24 hours.
