England’s worst roads have been revealed, with some surprising entries in the top ten list of most complained about.
A survey by Car Parts 4 Less has revealed that the top ten worst roads received a total of 3,172 complaints in the last year, accounting for nearly half of all the received complaints across England.
Manchester’s Oldham Road was the worst culprit, taking top sport in 2017 with an eye-watering 741 complaints, which suggests there are some seriously big pot-holes on that stretch of the highway.
It’s come as no surprise though to the long-suffering drivers of the North West, the region regularly ranks highly in the lists of worst roads and last year’s survey found that Lancashire, Salford and Cheshire had the three most complained about roads.
It’s not just the north of England that suffers though, perhaps surprisingly, London’s Oxford Street is the second worst road in England according to the survey, with Wiltshire’s A346 making up the top three with 304 complaints last year.
So what are the councils doing about these highways to hell? Well it all depends on where you live in England. Dorset County Council deemed it a good idea to spend a whopping £6.5m on one of their roads, the Bournemouth Spur Road, whilst the South East has three of the top five most expensive roads with Thanet Way in Kent, the A339 in Newbury and Bagshot Road in Bracknell Forest all having more than £1m spent on it.
Compare that the paltry £24,791 which Manchester City Council spent on Oldham Road over the past 12 months, despite being handed a fund of £20m for highway maintenance for the period of 2015-2021.
Top Ten Worst Roads
1. Oldham Road - Manchester City Council
2. Oxford Street – City of Westminster
3. A346 – Wiltshire Council
4. Watling Street – Northamptonshire County Council
5. Nottingham Road – Derby City Council
6. Uxbridge Road – London Borough of Ealing
7. Chester Road – Cheshire East
8. Lordship Lane – London Borough of Southwark
9. Beggar Bush Lane – North Somerset Council
10. Glascote Road – Staffordshire County Council