POTHOLE problems continue to plague the motorists of North East Lincolnshire.
Highways workers are still busy fixing the borough's damaged road surfaces – and the recent freezing temperatures have only exacerbated the situation.
Humberston residents contacted the Grimsby Telegraph to express their concerns about the condition of Queen Elizabeth Road.
The proliferation of potholes is also proving a headache for volunteers at Grimsby's Dial A Ride service.
As well as adding to the group's vehicle repair bill, the potholes are also playing havoc with the buses' on board cameras.
The devices were recently installed at a cost of £12,000 on the advice of their insurance company after they were hit by a compensation claim for whiplash following a collision involving one of their vehicles.
But the jolt of going over a big pothole often causes the cameras to move, leaving them facing in the wrong direction.
Dial A Ride co-ordinator Midge Curry said: "The roads were bad three years ago but things are far worse now.
"And going over the potholes is extremely uncomfortable for our passengers, particularly wheelchair users.
"The main problem is the potholes knocking the tracking out, causing us to go through tyres at a rate of knots.
"We have had to buy an extra vehicle as a spare and we have managed to keep a full fleet running by using that extra vehicle when our other's are undergoing repairs.
"But on top of the soaring cost of fuel, this is an extra expense we could do without."
Dial A Ride chairman Stephen Stead said: "As a charity the income we get is from concessionary fares and if we are spending money on repairs it means we can't replace our vehicles as often as we would like so we are probably having to run older vehicles which are higher maintenance.
"We carry about 50,000 passengers a year, so we don't want our vehicles to be off the road because we don't want to let our passengers down.
Driver Dave Houlton said: "The roads have got a lot worse. Over the last two years the roads have got really bad.
"It's not good for passengers because they are in wheelchairs. We are fed up of apologising to them for making them jump and bang about."
