Pothole king Reg clocks up his 200th road repair
A RETIRED builder who became a “pothole vigilante” has completed his 200th repair – at an incredible rate of one a week.
Reg Winsor, 75, got so fed up with waiting for a huge pothole on his street to be filled in that he took matters into his own hands.
The job took him just 15 minutes and now the man dubbed The Pothole King has been praised for clocking up a double century of repairs.
Reg, a Conservative councillor, said: “It’s simple really. The council haven’t got the money to do it so I just decided to do it myself. The Tarmac was given to me by local labourers and the rest of the gear I had.
“I believe that actions, not words, work best for my constituents.”
Now the pensioner, of Newton Abbot, Devon, has a team of 50 volunteers, dubbed Reg’s Army, to help him fix potholes as and when they are reported.
He added: “I get 10 or 20 complaint cases each week.
“The council don’t really want me doing it as it makes them look bad – but my actions have forced them to do a lot of fixes themselves.” Now Reg is planning a “rapid response” service using his new car, with a pledge to repair any pothole in his area within an hour of it being reported.
There are nearly 7,000 potholes across Devon waiting to be repaired.
Cllr Stuart Hughes, who sits on Devon County Council Highways committee, said: “Our contractor is doing an excellent job. We are clearing around 400 potholes a day.”
He added: “The council is looking to respond positively to offers of help we’ve received from members of the community like Reg.”