Is this a record? A pothole in Manor Road, Tring that was 34 inches by 14 inches and over 4 inches deep. Now (just) filled in after weeks of waiting.

11.26.00pm BST (GMT +0100) Wed 13th May 2009

Is this a record?

From the start of Hertfordshire's privatised road maintenance of nearly eight years, things have gone from bad to worse. "They used a flawed model", said Tring's County Councillor Nick Hollinghurst, "Elsewhere, wider arrangements were made which allowed internal competition. Not so here! Our highways consortium has just one partner responsible for the work and one other for design and quality control."

The problems arise because the road work is let out in a poorly controlled pyramid of sub-contractors - who often sub-contract the work out yet again.

Nick Hollinghurst adds, "The quality control arm can't inspect enough of the work and can't keep up with all that sub-contracting. Quite literally the right hand doesn't know what the left hand is doing! We see the results all around us - potholes, jobs done badly and then done twice - and jobs not done at all!"