A retired builder who became a ‘pothole vigilante’ by repairing road craters himself has been signed up by his council to fix them full-time.
Resourceful Reg Winsor, 72, got so fed up waiting for a huge pothole on his street to be repaired that he took matters into his own hands.
The job took him just 15 minutes and council roadworkers were so impressed by his handiwork they offered him a full-time position.
Reg is about to take part in a two-hour ‘course’ on how to fill in potholes before he is let loose on the rutted roads of Devon.
He has mustered up a team of around 50 volunteers dubbed “Reg’s Army” who will help him fix holes as they are reported.
Devon County Council have agreed to provide him with all the tarmac he needs although he will be using his own tools – and doing the work for NOTHING.
Public-spirited Reg, from Ilsington on Dartmoor, said he decided to do it as he had had enough of people moaning but doing nothing about it.
He said: “I’d been complaining about this pothole for months and even though I was going through the right means, nothing was done about it.
“It’s simple really – they haven’t got the money to do it, so I just decided to do it myself. The tarmac was given to me by local labourers and the rest I had myself.
“I’m a volunteer, I don’t get paid for it. The highway guys came to my house and asked me to do it.
“I know that we pay council taxes for repairs like this but at the end of the day we may as well just fix them now.
“We need to do it as a team, together everyone achieves more. Imagine if everyone decided to do what I had done.
“Mr Average is more than happy to sit there moaning about it by doesn’t do anything about it. So I’ve decided to do it myself.”
Reg used tarmac and a thumper given to him by a friend to fill a pothole on his street – nicknamed “The Crater” by residents – after contractors failed to fix it.
The following day he was visited by two men from Devon County Council’s highways department, who suggested he should go on a course.
Reg, a local parish councillor, added: “We’re saying that we are happy to fix any pot holes in the area.
“We’ll compile a list of pot holes, many people have been providing us with holes in their street.
“I’ll go out and assess them, then find people from the team who are available and we’ll go out and fix them.”
Devon County Council, which has an estimated roads repairs backlog of £758 million, welcomed the volunteer road repairers.
It spends £1 billion every year maintaining its 8,000 miles of roads but is attempting to save £3.4 million.
Councillor Stuart Hughes, cabinet member for highway management, said: “Devon County Council is looking to respond positively to offers of help that we’ve received from local members of the community like Reg.
“The volunteers would be trained to specific levels required to enable them to carry out work ranging from weed clearance and sign cleaning to grass and hedge cutting, and small pothole and surface defect repairs.”
Anyone who spots a pot hole in the Devon area should email Reg on regiwins@aol.co.uk
