Roads gone to pot

Regarding Donald Anderson’s article on potholes (Perspective, 20 February), in the past decade I have driven thousands of miles in France, the Netherlands, Austria, Czech Republic and Germany (including the old East Germany) and found the surfaces on most types of road invariably better than in the UK. Their winter weather is often worse than ours, and temperature differentials between summer and winter probably greater.

Do they use a better quality Tarmac, better hardcore foundations, or more effective machinery? Maybe a civil engineer could enlighten us.

JOHN BIRKETT Horseleys Park, St. Andrews