Harringay, Haringey - So Good they Spelt it Twice!
Pothole Rage
So, strolling back in the afternoon sun yesterday from the Shape Harringay event with kids (small one in a buggy), I begin to cross Green Lanes at the crossing near the bottom of Effingham Road like the model pedestrian I am.
Suddenly, the buggy and I come to a halt. The wheel has become stuck in a bloody great pothole in the middle of the crossing.
In the nano seconds that it takes me to realise the problem and struggle to lift the buggy out, the green man starts to flash. Cue lots of engine revving from thoughtful driver at front of queue and horn honking from the laid back drivers of Green Lanes.
( I am talking nano seconds but I am merely a person on legs and I am clearly in the way and I should just move my annoying little buggy and self out of the way of the very important people who have wheels.)
Having outglared the queue and managed to get to the kerb before the lead driver took out my rear end, I looked back and thought that if I can get caught in it, so can small children's feet, people's sticks, wheelchairs and all the other lesser mortals who dare to hold up the traffic.
So I reported it.
I can't be the first to report this but just to make sure that they were clear about the location (and as the award winning but now sadly defunct technology on the council website no longer allows you to pinpoint on a map) I found the crossing on Google Street view here Zoom in to admire further
but look closely people, that pothole is quite clear and this picture was taken last summer... so I really must be the first to notice the problem or they would have fixed it by now, wouldn't they?
My reply states
"Our Highways Inspectors will follow up all reports the next working day. Any pothole that is considered a danger will be made safe within 24 hours of being reported. All other potholes will be repaired within 7 days.
For more information about the problem you have reported, please contact the Potholes Hotline quoting your problem reference ID."
So, tell me folks, am I really the first person to report this damn great hole? Will I return in 7 days to discover that it has been made safe for the walkers and cyclists of Harringay?
Place your bets ladies and gentlemen, oh, and mind how you go now...
Suddenly, the buggy and I come to a halt. The wheel has become stuck in a bloody great pothole in the middle of the crossing.
In the nano seconds that it takes me to realise the problem and struggle to lift the buggy out, the green man starts to flash. Cue lots of engine revving from thoughtful driver at front of queue and horn honking from the laid back drivers of Green Lanes.
( I am talking nano seconds but I am merely a person on legs and I am clearly in the way and I should just move my annoying little buggy and self out of the way of the very important people who have wheels.)
Having outglared the queue and managed to get to the kerb before the lead driver took out my rear end, I looked back and thought that if I can get caught in it, so can small children's feet, people's sticks, wheelchairs and all the other lesser mortals who dare to hold up the traffic.
So I reported it.
I can't be the first to report this but just to make sure that they were clear about the location (and as the award winning but now sadly defunct technology on the council website no longer allows you to pinpoint on a map) I found the crossing on Google Street view here Zoom in to admire further
but look closely people, that pothole is quite clear and this picture was taken last summer... so I really must be the first to notice the problem or they would have fixed it by now, wouldn't they?
My reply states
"Our Highways Inspectors will follow up all reports the next working day. Any pothole that is considered a danger will be made safe within 24 hours of being reported. All other potholes will be repaired within 7 days.
For more information about the problem you have reported, please contact the Potholes Hotline quoting your problem reference ID."
So, tell me folks, am I really the first person to report this damn great hole? Will I return in 7 days to discover that it has been made safe for the walkers and cyclists of Harringay?
Place your bets ladies and gentlemen, oh, and mind how you go now...
Tags for Forum Posts: potholes
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Nigel Lupton (luptonn) on
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Liz - my experience of reporting potholes around London via fixmystreet is that Hackney council tend to be very good, Islington are so-so and Haringey and Tower Hamlets are very poor.
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Permalink Reply by Old-Age-Emporium(OAE) on
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How does one make a pothole safe within 24 hours?
Describe a red chalk circle around it?
Set an orange cone in the middle of it?
Drop one shovelful of dodgy tarmac on it?
Tick a box beside it on the council's map?
Abolish it?
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Permalink Reply by Alan Stanton on
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As an amateur on roads and potholes, I naively imagined that even some temporary tarmac is better than e.g. a buggy wheel getting trapped; or someone tripping and falling. Not to mention a cyclist launched over the handlebars in front of fast-moving traffic.
So at the risk of confirming my gullible ignoramus status, I asked and was told that a temporary fix is called "cold lay" and will last several weeks. (Or even months if there's low usage of the roadway.) But that Hot Rolled Asphalt (HRA) is needed for a more permanent fix.
I'm disappointed if Haringey's response is slipping behind our neighouring boroughs. I don't usually praise my colleague Cllr Haley. (Because he very rarely gives anyone the opportunity.) But pothole reporting and repair is a topic he's keen on and has tried hard to improve. So if performance has fallen he needs to know. Brian.Haley@haringey.gov.uk
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