THE problem of minor roads repair (Ludlow Advertiser, January 1) could be eased if the county council was prepared to allow parish councils to repair potholes as they develop and not after six months of car wrecking, when countless motorists have submitted claims for damage and injury.

My own son, aged 18, wrecked his new bike and sustained bad cuts after hitting a pothole which was left un-repaired for nine months.

It was mended the next day when the accident was reported.

Parish council volunteers could easily mend potholes with tarmac premix supplied in buckets.

The only problem is that you have to have a ridiculous "road mending certificate" to do it, as well as five million pounds insurance cover.

The repair of potholes is so simple that a child could do it but, bureaucracy being what it is, the county council treats people as helpless idiots who are not even allowed to push a broom or shovel on the road, lest they offend some regulation or other! A nanny state!

I am afraid that, things being what they are, instead of a pothole being repaired for £1-worth of tarmac by a volunteer when it first appears, the council waits until the road surface has completely broken down and injured somebody.

Then it closes the road for six weeks while its "approved contractor" charges £20,000+ for a major repair! So idiotic!

That's what is wrong with the way things are today, I am afraid.

W F Kerswell,

Picklescott,

Church Stretton.