Another brave adventure as I set out on the public highway, my speed lower than necessary to make good, safe progress and my eyes warily scanning the road ahead of me while I studiously avoid puddles as you cannot see the state of the road hidden beneath them. The steadily deteriorating road.

Potholes are the modern bane of every road-user, be they driving a car, riding a motorcycle or bicycle, when they can be a killer, and even for pedestrians who can inadvertently step off a kerb and suddenly find a sodden foot four inches under water.

Assuming you have not actually died but you or vehicle are damaged then you can claim compensation and every year millions do, at an average cost to the local council of £1,372.57 a time, according to national figures released in 2018. Which simply begs the question of why is more effort not put into filling these ubiquitous hazards, as figures released at the same time suggested that an average of a mere £53 is required for this?

We must, of course, spare a thought for councils across the land as we have experienced an extraordinary amount of precipitation this winter, although very little of the sub-zero temperatures that cause the water to freeze, expand and break the road surface apart. Also, it surely cannot be their fault that the poor quality of the filling of the offending potholes means that they can begin to reappear in just a matter of days.

Perhaps we should also spare a thought for the fact that, apparently, across our nation a third of the billions of pounds of our hard-earned cash we hand over in the form of council tax is spent on staff pensions.

John Solomon, Sunnyside Close, Charlton