Reading: Taxi Driver Gets Three Punctured Tyres in One Night!

By Denna Bowman

A furious taxi driver has hit out at pothole-ridden roads after he suffered three punctured tyres in one night.

Unfortunate cabbie Roger Billam was driving near Winchcombe when he drove into a pothole which punctured one of his front and rear tyres.

The damage brought his car full of passengers to a halt. Mr Billam said: “I couldn’t believe it. I didn’t think one pothole could cause so much damage.

“ It was at least 5ins deep and the tyres just dropped straight in. There was no way I could have avoided it.”

Mr Billam, who works for A2B Taxis in Cheltenham, swapped one of the tyres with a spare and called on a colleague to bring out a replacement.

But after dropping the passengers off and heading for home, he drove into a second hole puncturing his front kerbside tyre and denting the wheel rim.

“In 25 years as a taxi driver, I have never seen the roads in such a dreadful state,” he said. “Cheltenham is a minefield. It’s the result of years of cheap repair work that has come undone due to the recent cold weather.

“I hope it shows the council that quick fixes are a false economy. Road resurfacing needs to be done properly.

“Working conditions like these would not be tolerated in any other profession, so I don’t see why taxi drivers should have to put up with it.”

Mr Billam spent £160 on repairing the damage caused by the potholes and said he missed out on a day’s trade while the car was out of action.

This entry was posted on Monday, February 1st, 2010 at 6:27 am and is filed under News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.