ANY day now motorists are going to start disappearing down these monstrous craters in the road, otherwise known as potholes that we are all having to negotiate at our peril.

How much longer are we expected to run the gauntlet of what are laughingly called the highways in Gloucestershire.

Vast sums of council tax are going into the council’s coffers – for what? We already have to arrange our rubbish to the point that the only thing we are not doing is a degree in household wastage.

Our schools close when the first snowflake falls and let’s not even get started on hospital waiting times.

So where is all our money being spent? Definitely not on our roads that’s for sure.

Unmade tracks in Africa are now in better condition than some of our highways and there lies the problem.

If we don’t expect our roads to be kept in good condition then we drive suitable cars and we take the terrain into account.

But what is happening in Gloucestershire is many of our non off-roading vehicles are being damaged by the element of surprise.

We have no idea in this now patchwork quilt of streets where or when we are going to encounter a pothole.

Former town councillor Chas Townley earlier this month urged people to take legal action of the pothole position.

He had been lulled into thinking that markings around the potholes in his road were an indication that work was about to commence.

But GCC said these markings were undertaken by a "third party". Who? Who are these pothole fans scouring the country with chalk?

It is time now to take this seriously and get to grips with the problem before another winter causes any more misery for motorists.