A TEST Valley woman has vented her "frustration" after two of her car tyres were destroyed by potholes.

Carys Thomas, who lives in Lavington Gardens, North Baddesley, was driving down Misslebrook Lane on Wednesday when she hit two potholes.

Now the 32-year-old has forked out £175 to replace two right side tyres on her BMW 1 Series just one month after she replaced all four of her wheels.

Carys, who is an office worker for B&Q, said: "I was driving home from work and towards North Baddesley the traffic can back up, so I decided to take a cut through Misslebrook Lane to get to Chilworth Road.

"When I cut through the road there were two cars in front of me and I saw them take a little swerve to the right, but I hit both the potholes on the left and right-hand side.

"I heard a bang and I just knew something had gone wrong, so I pulled over on a lay-by, got out and felt relived to begin with as it looked like nothing had happened to them.

"But, as I drove through a set of lights at North Baddesley I could feel the back right tyre was flat. "I was frustrated because I had the back one fixed the next day and then I found the front one was flat as well."

She added: "I had four tyres replaced on February 6, which cost me nearly £400, so I could do without it."

When asked if potholes have got worse in Romsey over the years, Carys said: "I have lived in the area since 2016 and I have seen a gradual decline in the roads since then.

"It is great if the council can fill the potholes in, but they just seem to put some tarmac in the holes and over the next few months when we have rain it comes straight out again."

Carys stressed the wet weather has meant the water has been running "off the fields" by Misslebrook Lane and onto the road, which she believes is wearing the road away.

Her tyres were destroyed by the potholes on Wednesday, February 26, at 4.30pm.

This comes after a group of community leaders hit out at the state of the roads in Romsey.

The group, made up of local Liberal Democrat councillors, are urging Hampshire County Council (HCC) to fix the growing amount of potholes, after claiming they have deteriorated in the last 12 months due to budget cuts.

Deputy Leader and Executive Member for Economy, Transport and Environment at Hampshire County Council, Cllr Rob Humby, said: "Following the wettest Autumn for 100 years, followed by record rainfall and storms in February, it’s a challenge dealing with the damage that’s been done to Hampshire’s 5,500 miles of road.

“The position is compounded by years of underfunding for highways maintenance by successive governments, which has led to a significant decline in the condition of the local road network despite us trying to plug the funding gap from local resources with an extra £10 million each year for our Operation Resilience programme.

"I believe we do a good job with the funding we have, the money only goes so far, and the recent wet weather and flooding has added significantly to the damage and deterioration of the roads. 

"The last time flooding hit Hampshire in 2014, it caused an additional £40 million worth of damage to the network and all the indications are that this winter will have a similar impact. 

"Sometimes, we have to do temporary repairs to make the road safe. It is also very difficult to make an effective permanent repair in these wet conditions where groundwater levels are exceptional." 

He added: "The County Council has recently committed an extra £5 million from local resources for highways maintenance in the next financial year which we will be using to blitz potholes and defects with find and fix gangs."