A DAD had to fork out more than £500 on repairs and taxi fares after his car was damaged by a pothole the day before he was due to take his sick daughter to hospital.
Colin Bailey's Ford Galaxy was wrecked by the crater in Running Waters, Brentwood, just hours before he was due to take Tilly to Great Ormond Street Hospital in London to test new medication.
Tilly, 15, is battling neonatal onset multisystem inflammatory disease (Nomid) and regularly has to go to hospital in her father's specially designed Motability car.
Father-of-two Mr Bailey, 42, of Hutton, was driving home from his mum's house in Herongate when the accident took place.
He was left struggling to find a replacement vehicle late into the night – and was later landed with a repair bill for more than £500.
Mr Bailey blames Essex County Council for what happened.
"The council are a disgrace," he said. "That pothole has been there for weeks and weeks but nothing was done.
"If you try to go around it you could veer over the white lines. It's caused damage now and nothing but hassle we just don't need. We've got enough going on. We can't operate like the normal everyday family – our lives are more complicated.
"It's caused us major disruption. We pay our council tax but nothing is being done."
After the incident was highlighted to the council, the hole was filled in what Mr Bailey described as a "pretty shoddy" fashion.
"It's no more than a lump of tarmac put in there and flattened out," he said.
"They've done a lot of work in the area recently but they are always having to come back out.
"Why do they keep having to resurface the roads? They need to react quicker and do the work properly.
"How long until someone gets hurt? They don't seem to care about the fact it causes damage and not just financial damage – it can cause damage to people too.
"It took two days to get the car back and on the night it probably took three or four hours of our time."
Mr Bailey said it was fortunate that a family friend and taxi driver helped them to Great Ormond Street Hospital.
A council spokesman said: "An Essex Highways Inspector has carried out a site assessment of the area.
"A temporary repair was made to the road defect last Thursday to make it safe.
"A permanent repair to this road defect located in Running Waters will be made at the end of this week."
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