A SEVENTY-eight-year-old women is disgusted by the state of Farnham’s pathways and roads after a run in with a pothole left her in hospital.

After crossing Victoria Road, Margaret Rates caught the toe of her left foot in a pothole outside of Nineteen Hairdressers in South Street, causing her to fall to the ground damaging her left knee.

She later discovered, following an X-ray at Frimley Park Hospital, that she had suffered a distal femur fracture.

Her left leg was encased in plaster from the top of her leg to her ankle.

“I will require intensive therapy to get the leg moving after being restricted in the plaster, and while in hospital I overbalanced causing me to fracture my right shoulder,” said Margaret.

“All this would never would have happened had the pavement been maintained. This must be a health and safety issue.

“For the record I am 78 years old and living alone. I have had to go to the expense of employing a cleaner. I have had to cancel my holiday. I have insurance but there is always a certain amount of loss.

“I sit all day with my left leg resting on a chair. The fractured shoulder causes me a certain amount of pain. This is aggravated by the fact that I have to use a zimmer frame to move around thus delaying recovery of the shoulder.”

Margaret, who has only lived in Farnham for two years, concluded: “I have never lived where the pavements are in such an appalling condition. Also the amount of traffic in such a small space does seem to be out of order.”

Over the past four years potholes have cost Surrey County Council £1.2million in insurance claims – the highest for any local authority in the UK.

However, good news came when the government announced a £250million Pothole Action Fund, with £50 million being made accessible every year over the next five years.

The funding across all counties has been calculated according to the size of the local road network, and for 2016-17, Surrey was allocated £1,033,000.

The country council has used its allocation as part of a preventative programme to deal with both actual and potential potholes on the counties lower category roads.

A range of techniques including handlay patching, machine patching, jet patching, thermal patching and rejuvophalt, have been used so far.

As noted on Surrey County Council’s website, the 2016-17 preventative programme, which has cost £3million in total, “has removed or prevented approximately 35,000 defects and therefore the funding from the Pothole Action Fund has removed over 10,000 potholes from the network”.

Margaret’s claim has been reported to the highways department and she is now waiting for a response. For further information or to report a highway problem go to www.surreycc.gov.uk/roads-and-transport/road-maintenance-and-cleaning/report-a-highway-problem.