but some years ago the AA, RAC and others where preparing a case for the road fund licence to be used to fund the roads instead of going into the general tax pot
the Govt. at the time decide to change the road fund license title to VED vehicle excise duty

this way no court case could go ahead and the tax collected would still go into the general tax pot
and road maintenance could be, and still is, doled out to local councils for them to use as they see fit
hence the state of the roads ...

I think that only 25% of all road taxes and duties is spent on roads. If they had to hypothecate it then the spending on roads would rocket and the government would have to either slash road taxes and hit us somewhere else. Since they are trying to get us to be greener it seems to be the best option.

Well, the bus company here is rolling out their new fleet. And out route has them. Yay!

The bad news is that the road they run it along locally is in such a poor condition that if they haven't shaken their shiny new busses to bits by the end of the month, I'll be surprised. It's not pot holes, but more like pot trenches.

I certainly don't drive along that road at anything other than a crawl these days. The last thing I want is shredded tyres and cracked alloys.

Trenches are worst of all. You cannot avoid them if they cross the road. The problem is that it can smash your suspension. Cracked alloys might be replaced but I suspect that shatter suspension would be a major repair job.

The trenches run along the road. Because of parking, you are generally driving with one wheel n and one out. There will be trenches across if something isn't done soon.

At which point you sue the living crap out of the local council. It's their responsibility to make sure the roads are fit for purpose.

Jon

The worst cross road trench I ever came across was outside the house of commons some years ago. It was one that meant you had to go into the oncoming traffic for a second to avoid it. I was cycling though London then and that route towards Putney was the fastest except for that section. It was at least two inches deep and a sudden drop.

And hope that they knew the hole/trench was there. IIRC councils have a couple of getout clauses with potholes.

They have to inspect the roads they are responsible for but there is a defined timeframe in which they have to cover the entire network. If the hole wasn't there when that stretch of road was inspected they don't have to fix it until it's notified to them or their own inspectors spot it on their next pass.
Likewise, if a driver does report a pothole the council has a fixed time window in which to repair it. So, if you hit a pothole but don't report it to the council it's possible they'll be able to wriggle out of responsibility for any damage caused to your car.
Not sure if the rules are country wide or vary by council (which is what I'd actually expect because the areas they have to cover can differ wildly).