A county councillor has made a formal complaint after describing a council's response to fixing a pothole as "appalling".

Cllr Stephen Giles-Medhurst was fuming after he hit a pothole in Kingswood Road, Watford, on December 29.

He says the rim of his alloy wheel was slightly damaged.

He became even more angry when he found out that Hertfordshire County Council were already aware of the hole after his Lib Dem colleague Cllr Tim Williams reported it on December 22.

Harrow Times:

The pothole in Kingswood Road

Cllr Giles-Medhurst said: "When I drove over the hole, I thought what on earth was that? I got out of the car straight away to see what I had hit.

"This is an extremely large hole. You can see how deep it is because Cllr Williams is in it. We think its 24 inches across.

"A hole of this size should be fixed within 24 hours, and that's going by the county council's policy, which is on its website."

Harrow Times:

Cllr Tim Williams with his foot in the pothole

When Cllr Giles-Medhurst went to report the pothole on the county council's online reporting form, he saw that seven other reports had been made. He then received a response from the council which said the road surface would be repaired by January 30.

Cllr Giles-Medhurst added: "This is quite frankly appalling. I've chased senior officers. This is just not on. This hole should have been repaired straight away.

"At night, cyclists and motorcyclists will come off their bike if they drive over it - there's no doubt about it."

Harrow Times:

Cllr Giles-Medhurst sent in this image of his wheel which he says was slightly damaged after driving over the hole in Kingswood Road

Cllr Giles-Medhurst, backed by Cllr Williams, has made a formal complaint to the county council which he says is "rare" for him to do.

Cllr Williams added: "I first reported the road breaking up here to the council back in August, and then I reported it again when it did break up. There have been many complaints from residents."

A county council spokesperson said: "When a pothole is reported, we respond on a 'risk' basis which takes into consideration criteria such as size, depth and location.

"A pothole on an unclassified road which is not assessed as high risk will be repaired within 20 working days."

The pothole was repaired on Tuesday (January 7).