Potholes of gold for Taranaki tyre shops
Ian Lord’s split-second crash into a pothole cost him a whopping $5600 and he’s just one of dozens of motorists paying a big price for the poor condition of Taranaki highways.
Driving home on State Highway 3 on Friday, August 19, the New Plymouth man and his wife Aileen were just south of the city when they came unstuck.
‘‘It was right on the corner, and we were following another car, but it was dark, and we never saw it,’’ Lord said. ‘‘It just went bang and I said ‘that’s wrecked something, surely’.’’
He was right. His front and rear tyres were burst, the rims destroyed. The bill to repair the car came to $5600.
‘‘It’s an expensive car, so the repairs will be expensive as well, but everyone is talking about these potholes and no-one is doing anything,’’ Lord said.
‘‘We shouldn’t pick on the Government but not a lot of money seems to be going into the roads.’’
Lord, who owned a trucking business for many years, said the roads were the worst he had ever seen them.
Following two days of heavy rain, Waka Kotahi warned Taranaki motorists against unnecessary travel on that Friday because of the damage the weather had caused the roads.
While contractors have been out repairing the damage, the transport agency has been copping criticism about the state of the highways in Taranaki for weeks before the August 19 deluge.
Earlier last month, it said part of the problem was that long sections of Taranaki highways were due for rehabilitation or reseals and the Covid-19 lockdown caused much of the work scheduled for early 2020 to not be completed.
The potholes have been a bonanza for tyre repair businesses in the region, even if the work has come from unhappy customers.
Ryan Merson from Stratford Tyres said they replaced tyres for 35 to 40 customers on August 19 before running out of tyres.
‘‘It was just normal days before then, but we are very busy with this sort fo stuff at the moment and Friday was the worst day.’’
‘‘A lot of it is wrecking the tyres and the rims, so you can imagine I’m getting some very unhappy customers at the moment.’’
Merson said many customers were asking if the transport agency would help pay for the repairs.
‘‘Everyone is paying road tax to have these roads up to scratch and on Friday I had about six or seven customers with near new tyres that had blown out from the potholes.’’
Shaun Van Beers, from Just Tyres in New Plymouth, said he had replaced more than 40 tyres between August 19 and 23, which was ‘‘easily the most they had done’’.
But his biggest concern was the danger potholes posed to drivers.
‘‘Sooner or later someone is going to swerve to avoid one and swerve into another car.
‘‘There will be a death if nothing’s done.’’