A1088 pothole, near Elmswell, Woolpit and Norton, damages multiple vehicles as garage owner speaks out

A garage owner has spoken of the damage caused to multiple vehicles by a large pothole in a busy road.

Andy Burt, of Andys Auto Fix, in Woolpit Road, Norton, near Bury St Edmunds, said he and his team completed more than 10 repairs to vehicles damaged by a pothole on the A1088, near the Elmswell roundabout, yesterday.

The road is the main route for villagers to access the A14 westbound at present, with the carriageway to Woolpit closed until March 22 to build a roundabout for the Hopkins Homes development.

Suffolk Highways said repairs were undertaken at the pothole this morning following more than 20 reports.

Mr Burt said: “An awful lot of cars have been damaged, our yard and the lay-by were completely full. We literally did car after car.

“We probably did 11 tyres yesterday. We want to be selling to people when their tyres are worn out, not damaged – some of the tyres we replaced were very new.

“It’s getting dangerous. This is every other car getting stuck, and there’s times where there’s not enough space to safely stop.”

There have been more than 20 reports lodged on the Suffolk Highways online tool about the pothole since February 23.

In the reports, it was described as being about 40cm wide and the size of a tyre, at least 10 inches deep, as well as not being visible when the road is wet.

A spokesperson for Suffolk Highways said: “Road repairs have been completed along A1088 Elmswell this morning following a number of customer reports informing us of the potholes.

“Although we carry out routine inspections of the roads across Suffolk, we encourage residents to continue to report any issues to Suffolk Highways, via the Online Reporting Tool, so they can be inspected and repaired if needed. Highway emergencies should be called through on 0345 606 6171.”

A Freedom of Information request by SuffolkNews has found the number of pothole reports across Suffolk increased by 180 per cent in the space of a year.

Suffolk Highways received 5,509 pothole reports in 2022, but this snowballed to 15,423 the following year. There may be multiple reports for the same pothole.