00:00Medway drivers say this is becoming more and more common.
00:05Potholes aren't unique to Medway, but according to the council, it's home to 2,000 of them,
00:11although some residents think there's even more than that.
00:14I think there's probably 2,000 in this stretch of road, to be honest.
00:17There's no way that the council could fill them all in, to be honest.
00:21Every road, and they're throwing stones in them and they're coming out and all down the sides of the roads
00:26and they're flicking up and they're dangerous.
00:29I've seen potholes marked with white paint, the white paint's washed away and nothing's been done.
00:35Down there, we have this in the middle, so most of the time you try to avoid it,
00:40so that you don't get the bottom of your car a little bit dented.
00:44And one Gillingham garage says they've been inundated with drivers furious at broken springs or flat tyres,
00:51often due to potholes.
00:53If a coil spring is broken, you're probably looking at about £40 for the spring
00:57and £80-odd for the labour.
00:59Before you know it, it's £120, you know, if there isn't any other damage.
01:04So, yeah, it can be quite costly, really.
01:07And now the council wants an extra £50 million to fix them.
01:11Bosses have written to the Minister for Roads saying the condition of the roads is compromising safety.
01:17They've invited Guy Opperman to Medway to discuss this further.
01:21Residents in Medway have been saying to us that the state of roads in Medway
01:25are at a position where they feel unsafe.
01:27That's something we're reacting to as best as we can.
01:30And if he turns around and says, I can't afford that, what are you going to do?
01:33Because clearly the council also can't afford to fix all those potholes.
01:36Look, we will do whatever we can within the budget we currently have.
01:40We'll continue to lobby if he doesn't give us a positive outcome.
01:43The Department for Transport says it's already given Medway £3.5 million
01:48over the next two years for its roads
01:51and an additional £400,000 from reallocated HS2 funding.
01:56They say they've not yet received the letter but will reply once they do.
02:00This is the road that's set to get the most of the pot of money.
02:03It's set to get more than £100,000.
02:06So that's more than a quarter of the money is going into this road, City Way.
02:09It's the main road into Rochester.
02:11So it's a pretty busy road and prone to damage on the surface.
02:15Ten other roads in Rochester, Gillingham and Chatham have also been earmarked for repairs.
02:20But one part of Medway feels forgotten about.
02:23A Lib Dem in Raynham says their roads are just as bad
02:27but they don't seem to be getting a share of this pot of money.
02:30The roads up and down Wickmore, Raynham are also patches that we really need even repaving.
02:37So you can see over the years Medway Council has been doing small patches of fixing
02:42and those patches have simply just been torn off and worn off
02:46and needs a lot more fixing over the years.
02:49So it seems the Council's journey into eliminating the thousands of potholes here is just beginning.
02:55But residents feel there will still be bumps in the road in the near future
02:59before they're driving safely once again.
03:02Sophia Akin for KMTV in Medway.
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