Yesterday I was making my way down the A14 in the outside lane at about 75 mph when there was a noise like a stone or something rattling round the wheel arch. It disappeared after a second or so and I thought nothing more of it. This was followed by the unmistakable noise of a ruined tyre, so I pulled off into a slip road to find smoke pouring off the tyre and this...

[img]https://fbcdn-sphotos-f-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-ash4/409432_10151401588473478_2145634823_n.jpg[/img]

And damage to the wheel arch lining and trim where it tore through...

[img]https://fbcdn-sphotos-c-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-ash4/295117_10151401588658478_2012886504_n.jpg[/img]

[img]https://fbcdn-sphotos-b-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-ash4/295289_10151401588638478_1070916570_n.jpg[/img]

One ruined tyre...

[img]https://fbcdn-sphotos-e-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-ash4/400010_10151401588683478_1914686602_n.jpg[/img]

But luckily I have a spare and not a can of foam..!

[img]https://fbcdn-sphotos-h-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-ash3/551733_10151401588478478_525085224_n.jpg[/img]

£129.99 later and I now have a new tyre, thanks to this little beggar...

[img]https://fbcdn-sphotos-d-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-prn1/15876_10151401588458478_1885751882_n.jpg[/img]

One expense I don't need after Christmas!

This got me thinking, who takes responsibility for ensuring the roads are kept clear of rubbish like this? I can't help thinking that if it had gone through my front tyre, or the road/weather conditions were poor, this may have had a different outcome!

iam on my second windscreen in two mouths due to s--t on the roads seem no one
sweeps them any more

The Highways Agency is responsible for maintaining the Motorway infrastructure but there have been many reports of problems, as with many government bodies, of work being contracted to companies which are not fulfilling their contractual requirements and basically getting paid to do sod all.

On the Highways Agency website there is the link to contact them directly-

[url="http://www.highways.gov.uk/"]http://www.highways.gov.uk/[/url]

[url="http://www.highways.gov.uk/about-us/contact-us/"]http://www.highways.gov.uk/about-us/contact-us/[/url]

Nasty luckily it all ended safely the roads up here are truly shocking ive given up with stone chips and crap getting caught in the tyre treads stones being kicked up by cars in front

Wow, now that is one nasty bolt no one wants to see sticking out of a tire , like you say you were lucky it was not the front.

Lucky escape!

As said previously, its highways agency...

Thanks for your help guys, might be worth a quick email to the Highways Agency with these pics (might even be cheeky and put a copy of the sales invoice for my new tyre on there as well!).

It just alarms me that crap on the roads could be contributing to some serious incidents