A MOTORIST has been pictured sitting in a pothole which is “big enough to have a bath” after he smashed his car into it.
Kevin Watson, 32, was driving through the Highlands with friends when he hit a massive pothole in the middle of a major trunk road.
The impact damaged one of his tyres and he left the car to inspect the hole on the A82 north of Bridge of Orchy, on Wednesday evening.
He was left shocked when he discovered the actual size of the pothole and then sat in it to show just how big it is.
Mr Watson, from Newcastle, said “We were coming for a photography trip, and just got to Scotland. There was four of us in the car and we hit that pothole.
“The pothole is big enough to have a bath in. I’m 5ft 11in tall and it was big enough for me to sit in.
“It’s over three feet long, about one-and-a-half feet wide and almost four inches deep. Now it’s just going to cost me money to repair that tyre but I’m happy it is not the worst kind of damage. Hopefully it will manage to get us home safely.”
A recent study concluded that Scottish roads are littered with the highest number of potholes in the UK and would stretch to a combined depth of nearly four miles. It revealed that a total of 154,310 potholes were reported to Scottish councils last year, around 16,000 more than the next worst-hit region, the south west of England.
Scots are reporting around 423 holes each day, triple the amount reported in London.
A spokesman for BEAR Scotland said: “We’re arranging for an urgent repair to a defect on the A82 near Rannoch Moor to be completed this afternoon.
“Cold and wet winter weather conditions experienced in January and February have caused some sections of the road surface to deteriorate rapidly, with the freeze and thaw cycle and flux in temperatures causing the surface to break apart in places.
“We are currently carrying out an ongoing £4million programme of urgent surfacing repairs across over 60 locations on trunk roads in north west Scotland over the next three months, and our teams are also carrying out temporary repairs where required to the road surface.
“We fully understand frustration from road users regarding the road surface at some locations, and we are doing all we can to carry out repairs as safely and quickly as possible.
“While we appreciate photographs of road defects, we strongly urge them to be taken safely.”
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