Highway to holes is a menace to all road users

THE A65 is the main arterial road between Leeds/Bradford and the Lake District. It is additionally used by large numbers of freight vehicles not least between quarries in Ribblesdale and West Yorkshire.

The state of the highway is such that I now always carry a camera with me in case I burst a tyre or worse, damage the suspension while performing the slalom which drivers invariably adopt when passing through Hellifield and Gargrave in particular.

It is not a case of hole filling which is required, rather a complete new surface.

I have a degree of sympathy with North Yorkshire Highways, it not being that long since our revered friend John Prescott former Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Transport, and sometime pugilist, detrunked the A65.

Thus responsibility passed from the Highways Agency funded directly by central Government to the relevant county councils.

Nevertheless the summer is about to burst forth, bringing out bikers either pedal powered or with horsepower often in excess of a small car. They are both riding a timebomb when tackling the A65.

From: Andrew Mercer, Guiseley.

JUST what is Leeds Council playing at? The newly-widened stretch of the A65 Kirkstall Road into Leeds already has giant potholes. Doesn’t the council check these things?