Just in case anyone is Surrey Hills night riding this week and ends up going down Hollow Lane (North away from Leith Hill/Abinger Common to A25) – the massive potholes claimed a cyclist victim on the weekend and have not yet been fixed. This is just where you come out of the high-sided rocky lane and past the parked cars with houses to the left. The holes are fully across the road and not to be taken lightly – at night they may well catch you out, esp if you've been in the pub!

The cyclist was me, still alive but who knows how.

Jesus Wept!

That's pretty nasty, hope you're back out there soon!

Blimin eck, that looks really nasty and I hope your recovering ok there.

Were you been looked after by a part cyborg? 😉

Wearing a helmet??

'kin hell! Get well soon mate.

The state of that section of road is outrageous
.
In all my cycling experience ive never had a big crash, but there was nothing I could do when I came up on this.

I'm told its been previously repeatedly reported by local residents and caused other accidents.

I plan to write to the council but it doesn't sound like they are listening.

Send your pics to the local press. I'm sure they'll listen then.

Darkside victim?

Sorry to hear and see your injuries.
But the council have an obligation to
maintain the highway and you say they have
been told of accidents before but ignored.

So get yourself a solicitor and sue them
for your injuries, sufferings and loss
of earnings.

Get well soon

Smacked into that in my car the other night – thought I would have trashed the tyre and dented the rim as didn't see it until the last minute. Thankfully all seems ok. Drove past it again on Saturday and my wife commented on how dangerous it was and how the council should be more on top of these things.
Get well soon, then sue the lazy gits!

When you see these things then you need to make sure that you report them to the council as they may not have any liability unless made aware of the damage. There are several well publicised methods of doing this – if not for yourself then for someone else.
Hope the dented man is feeling better.

Surrey CC are notoriously crap at road repair. We've had 6 inch deep holes in the road by our house on and off since the cold weather; one was left unfilled for about 4 weeks.

Jeepers, that looks nasty – hope you're on the mend.

If you want back-up on the action vs the council get in touch – my wife, among many other locals, called the council to report it well before your accident. She insisted that they note her opinion that a serious injury would be more than likely, they still brushed her off with the usual procedure.

Also, they had done a temporary repair to this a couple of weeks previously – so they absolutely did know about it and knew very well the extent of the potholes (which go fully from one side of the road to the other and are unavoidable. To make the spot even more hazardous it is just where your attention is (correctly) partly taken by the parked cars, oncoming vehicles in a narrow spot and front garden gates opening straight to the road.

Do get in touch if you want assistance – I can probably get a list of people who reported the danger, and I know all of the people who live right next to it.

How did you get the scar on your neck? I saw the picture first and thought this was the incident of a wire having been strung across the track.

ock! fuxk that looks nasty! did the helmet strap do that to your neck?

I think that's just a trickle of blood that has run down neck?

Yep well spotted Glen.

Never did hear from your colleague by the way although I have been 'visualising' more while out and it seems to be working.

Richard is looking for your email, gt. Did you contact info@mountain-bike-guiding.co.uk ?

His number is 07976 353 963

I like the power of visualising what you want – you can learn a lot about biking when you aren't biking at all! There is a value in "talking a good ride" – or at least "thinking a good ride"!

Just in case you're not getting my emails, victim, my wife called SCC re Hollow Lane on 6 April and the reference number was 83075429 – she was very clear about the danger and insisted they take proper note before ending the call. She will not be the only one, I'm quite sure.

I ride this area nearly every week and noticed it about a fortnight ago.I would also get the local mp involved as that will earn him a few brownie points with the elections coming up .

Its actually been very bad for a lot longer than that. Certainly there was one day when it was a sheet of black ice flowing down into the holes – despite only rolling down at 10 or 15 mph I couldn't slow my car enough and crashed through. Can't remember when it was icy, but maybe a month ago? And it had already formed several weeks before that.

>Surrey CC are notoriously crap at road repair.

They've been doing some (temporary?) repairs in our Close recently (Walton-On-Thames). I suspect it has nothing to do with having one or two local Conservative Elmbridge councillors in the road, otherwise I'd have thought it might have got done sooner 😉 But there's some bloody awful potholes elsewhere that I'd have thought really ought to have been patched first, there's one pretty much across the nearside lane at Walton Bridge. The winter weather's no excuse, it was bad enough last summer.

I could be cynical and wonder if an election in the offing has anything to do with it…

Hope yer soon sorted, looks like it could have been a lot worse 🙁

Just realised that it did damage the tyre – I now have a nice bulge in the tyre and will now face a bill for 2 new front Michelins!

OK – so not in the same league as the OP, but feel like having a crack at the council on this one. Anyone know of progress on this?

I emailed the OP, but got no reply.

The repair has been done, but quite frankly is the most shoddy job imaginable. It would still rattle a road bike quite badly and remains bumpy enough to be a hazzard.

heihei – go for it, they should be forced to take this seriously. It isn't the normal inevitable single pothole, but a massive area fully over the road, and they had loads of complaints.