Ö÷²¥´óÐã

Hands up who has spotted a pothole on the way in to work today.

Chances are most of us - and you can't just blame the recent ice and snow. Obviously the arctic conditions have made the situation worse but we filmed most of our report before the January chilly spell.

Please do add you comments to this blog and tell us what you think of the state of the roads where you live.

We've got almost twenty thousand miles of road in our region and clearly it can't all be in tip top condition at any one time, but according to one survey we can expect, on average, to see a pothole within one hundred metres.

Whether you drive a clapped out old banger ripe for the or a Porsche like brothers Scott and Neil, who you'll have seen in our film, it's no fun when you drive into a pot hole and damage your car.

Scott was awarded more than £3,000 after his pride and joy was caught out by a pothole in last year.

In the case of the worried parents in they fear the terrible consequences of a school bus coming off the road.

They've compiled their own map of the local pothole blackspots.

We also spoke to cyclists who either have to run the risk of being thrown off their bikes if they end up in one or who have to suddenly swerve into the paths of passing cars. It's not much of a choice.

According to the who carry out an annual survey of the country's road conditions, the number of potholes has risen 32% in a year.

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The alliance claims we've a 42 year backlog of repairs although our councils dispute this and say they do everything to patch up the potholes as soon as they can.

One website, where you can see at the glance the latest reported problems.

. It's a rather technical document but even this official report suggests there has indeed been a small deterioration in the number of roads in a "good" condition.

Whoever's survey you choose to believe there's nothing quite like personal experience to build a picture of the situation. So add you comments to this blog and we'll get a snapshot of how good or bad our roads are.

PS: I often get asked where we film our links for each programme as we often choose the most picturesque or relevant locations to introduce our stories. I'll add the details each week.

This week we filmed the links at . A fantastic spot at the best of times but just stunning in the recent hard frost. We also filmed at the nearby which featured in report for the Ö÷²¥´óÐã's A History of the World project.

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