Crumbling roads are a legacy of years of council neglect

With reference to your article concerning the state of our roads (Yorkshire Post, May 23), I had lived in the Kirklees area for 60 years until recently.

When I first started driving at the age of 17, the roads were kept in good repair. However, gradually over the decades, successive councils have spent minimal amounts of taxpayers’ money on road repairs.

Now we have the situation where virtually every road needs work doing and many are so bad that you cannot patch repair them. They need digging up and completely re-surfacing. This is far more expensive that just patching, which when done seems to only last a few weeks.

No matter what their political colour, every political party is as guilty as the next, and it’s absolutely pathetic that they should now be blaming each other rather than getting the job done.

It does seem strange though that there is not a single pothole in Downing Street, nor any of the roads used during the recent Royal wedding. Try finding a pothole outside your town hall – I doubt you will find one.

The increased cost to motorists, bikers and cyclists in wear and tear due to potholes and speed bumps must be enormous.

So what’s the solution?

Try lobbying your MP or councillor. But this has been done before and they are so thick-skinned it would be like water off a duck’s back.

Having spoken to people who have claimed for vehicle repairs through council insurance schemes, forget it: is virtually impossible.

You could try withholding the proportion of your council tax allocated to road maintenance (and/or your road tax) but I doubt you would get very far with that, apart from a trip to see the magistrates.

Sell your car, motorbike or cycle and buy a tank or similar track-laying vehicle which would not be bothered by bad road surfaces in the slightest (your wife might not like this very much but the kids would absolutely love it).

Work from home and order all your shopping on line, to be delivered to your doorstep: terribly unsociable.

Walk as much as you can and use public transport. Allow days instead of hours to complete your journey.

There is only one solution. Do what I did two years ago. Move away. Here in Cumbria and the surrounding area, the roads are comparatively wonderful!