A woman has insisted Cumberland Council is to blame after a driving over a pothole caused hundreds of pounds worth of damage to her car.

Audrey Stagg was driving back from Buttermere on May 2 on the B5289 near Lorton. She hit a pothole in the road which caused £600 worth of damage to her car.

She alleges that when she went back to the scene to have another look the day after, the pothole had been filled in.

“I’m just disgusted,” said Audrey.

“My car was an absolute mess. It was totally smashed in, and it cost me a hell of a lot of money to repair.

“The potholes are everywhere and they’re going to cause some major damage – I’m absolutely raging.”

Cumberland Council have denied any liability in the case. In an email sent to Ms Stagg a representative from Crawford and Company said "the locus in question is inspected on a six-monthly basis – the previous scheduled inspection was undertaken on 15/12/23. Actionable defects were not present pre-incident.

 "We do not consider there are any defects present that were considered actionable and there is a reasonable system of inspection and maintenance in place thus we would seek to rely on our client’s Section 58 defence should this matter proceed to trial."

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A Cumberland Council spokesperson said: “Obviously Cumberland Council has every sympathy with Ms Stagg following the damage caused to her vehicle. However, the council has already provided Ms Stagg with the reasoning for its position.

“As a council, it is our duty is to comply with all legislation which requires us to maintain the road network and to take all reasonable care to ensure that the road was not dangerous to traffic.

“We are sorry that Ms Stagg does not accept the council's position but would reiterate that we have, and continue, to undertake our duties as required."