In my quest for rut-less roads I have been backed by a county councillor.

Jon Whitehouse, Cllr for Epping Hemnall, has stood shoulder-to-shoulder with me by suggesting the authority could handle pothole problems more effectively.

He said: “Surely prevention is better than cure.”

I couldn't agree more!

He said: “It’s something everyone gets frustrated with, especially when you see one pothole has been fixed and yards away there is another that has just been ignored.”

Well said, Cllr Whitehouse!

He added: “There are all sorts of knock on effects from potholes, not least accidents and car damage and the county council needs to anticipate these things.

“It’s better to repair potholes quickly rather than spend money on compensation and admin costs processing claims.”

Since 2009 the county council has paid out £631,000 for pothole damage to vehicles.

Yesterday saw my first success as the Epping Road horror hole I highlighted was permanently repaired, but only after it was reported by police as an emergency.

The other pesky potholes I have mentioned have not yet been rectified so I enquired with the council as to why that might be.

An Essex Highways officer said: “Defects are ‘risk assessed’ and prioritised depending on what type of hazard they may represent.

“Emergency defects are repaired within two or 48 hours depending on their severity and defects that represent less of an immediate hazard are repaired within 28 days.

“Other potholes which are not serious will be monitored and repaired in due course.”

Let’s hope no more emergency call outs are needed to fix all these otherwise there could be a lot of damage to cars in the meantime.