Man living on ‘Plymouth’s worst pothole road’ is forced to sell his motorbike

An angry biker from Plymouth was forced to sell his motorbike because the potholes in his route are just too bad.

Al Rowe, 61, has always had a love for motorcycles and selling his beloved bike was incredibly heartbreaking.

But the situation with the dreaded potholes became so inflammatory in Manadon that he had no choice – and no he bought a 4×4.

Al, a train fitter who was born and raised in Honicknowle, says St Peters Road has worsened for months and months and is now out of breath.

He describes the current state of the highway as “the worst I have ever seen”.

“I would say it’s probably been like this for two and a half years since they did the job at The Quarters and Poets Corner,” Al said, barely audible by the traffic noise.

“There are a lot of heavy factories coming in and going out and big construction vehicles.

“I think it’s just overlooked and not fixed.”

Al says the stretch that makes the double junction joining Shakespeare Road often sees people stopping early to avoid the really tough area, which has worn down to the original pink concrete of the 1960s / 70s.

Al is not the first to complain about the condition of St Peters Road, in a recent Facebook post on PlymouthLive, several commentators claimed the route off the Manadon roundabout was’ the worst of Plymouth ”.

“I imagine people in the area would have to be blind not to notice it,” Al admits.

“I used to ride a motorcycle, I had a motorcycle and a car, but I couldn’t drive with that, you would go fly on a sports bike.

“After two years without riding – because Chaucer Way is also a series of potholes and ruts – I sold it.

“It’s just not safe to ride a bike and it’s not just this area, it’s all of Plymouth.”

Al, who knows the area like the back of his hand after 61, can pinpoint the surface damage roughly the length of Shakespeare Road with “ 40 to 50 yards ” of half-decent road before descending into more of “ pink concrete, ruts ” and ridges.

He also talks about a huge pothole next to a Ruskin Stores retarder which until recently when it was repaired saw drivers having to climb halfway up the bump to get around it.

Apparently, shortly before we met, a BMW slowed down for one of the many traffic calming measures along the street to end up anchoring its exhaust along the uneven surface.

“I bought a 4×4 at the end,” Al said with a laugh.

“My son said, ‘Oh daddy, why do you need a Chelsea tractor?’ and I said jump in, and he said, ‘Oh!’ “

In addition to reading a recent article on ‘the worst pothole street in Plymouth’, which caused Al for a moment to ‘hold back my beer’, the 61-year-old said that it was the sight of a seemingly unnecessary road maintenance that had made him react. time.

“I was driving last week and saw a lot of drivers and trucks on the highways. I thought it was awesome! But they had a leaf blower, blowing all the asphalt loose from the potholes and they painted these white lines on the road – that’s about ten days ago.

“I was still laughing when I pulled up to my house, there is nothing to paint.”

Al is no stranger to the fallout of the poorly maintained road, selling his bike and having to have a suspension arm replaced on a previous vehicle, but for the train fitter it is more about safety and the general thinking on Plymouth as a whole.

“It’s a question of comfort, it’s a question of safety,” he adds. “You wouldn’t want to go here in an ambulance, imagine if you had a spinal injury.

“You know the advisers are trying to promote Plymouth as our Ocean City, but if they want to promote Plymouth as a place for tourists to come, why don’t they invest in infrastructure, so that do people have a nice place to drive?

“We pay our taxes and there is no doubt that there are budgets for it and budgets for it, but we know it was caused by construction traffic.

“Why can’t we ask the construction companies to repair the damage they have caused?

“It’s a buildup of real damage and it takes a good resurfacing.”

Plymouth City Council has been asked for comment.

Report a pothole or pavement problem

If you see a pothole in the road that needs fixing, let the council know and they’ll tell you they’ll fix it.

Report a pothole

The council’s website says, “We will repair a pothole that is at least 40mm deep and at least 300mm wide. Safety, pothole location and type of pothole. route help us decide when it will be fixed. “