Residents across the West claim potholes are damaging their vehicles

Residents and mechanics have claimed worsening potholes on their streets have been damaging vehicles.

People in the West of England have said the issue is getting worse and councils are not doing enough to fix them.

One Wiltshire resident said his car's suspension had been damaged and another said part of her wheelchair had become unusable because of the potholes.

Wiltshire Council said it now has received an extra £3.6m from the government to tackle the problem.

A council spokesperson said there had been an increase in the number of potholes across the country, "not just in Wiltshire".

"We undertake regular monitoring of the network, as well as reactive repairs, and we would advise anyone concerned to report highway defects and potholes to us," they said.

Mr Hughes said the potholes on the nearby A365 look like they have reappeared after previous attempts to repair them.

"It's just like riding over very rough country roads and the council seems not reluctant, but unable to fix them," he said.

"It's fine in the daylight, but when it's been raining or in the darkness, you can't avoid them."

South Bristol resident Hari Clough, who uses a wheelchair with a hand bike attachment to travel longer distances, said the potholes had damaged it "rendering it unusable".

"The progressive potholes have damaged the mechanism that allows this to connect to my wheelchair," she said.

"I've had to pay £500 to get it repaired. In the meantime, I have to pay for additional taxi fares and I have to take a lot more time to do things."

Vanraj Jethwa, who owns AJ's Garage in Bristol, said he has been dealing with increasing numbers of vehicles from all over the west with suspension problems and blames it on potholes.

"It's very dangerous," he said.

"The percentage of suspension failures that we see have gone up. It tells you the potholes are causing a lot of problems."

Asphalt Industry Alliance Director Malcolm Simms, said the "crux" of the issue is authorities are underfunded.

"You need something like £14bn across the country and in our region (south-west) £1.5m alone," he said.

"The report that we issued this year shows it is by far the worst we've experienced for decades."

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