Padiham firefighter seriously injured in pothole accident

A FIREFIGHTER is lucky to be alive after a pothole threw him and his bicycle into the middle of Padiham bypass.

Mr Tony Clough, of St John’s Road, Padiham, was travelling home from Nelson Fire Station at 6-15 p.m. on Tuesday, January 11th, when the horrifying accident happened.

He sliced the side of a finger, suffered severe swelling to his face which has left permanent scars and was forced to take five weeks off work.

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“I just didn’t see it coming,” he said. “It had been raining and so it was filled to the top. The bike hit the hole and I went straight over the handlebars. I got up and realised I was in the middle of the bypass so I had to drag myself and my bike to the grass verge. If there had been any traffic coming, and a lot of lorries use that bypass, then there is no way they would have been able to stop because it happened so quickly. I could easily have been killed.

“I’d only just taken up cycling as a way of getting fit just before the accident but since what happened I’ve not been back on it.”

More than 50 potholes across the borough have been identified on the Burnley Express Plot the Pots interactive website with residents worried about the lack of action being taken.

Even though the pothole has since been filled in Mr Clough (49) is less than happy with the job that has been done by Lancashire County Council.

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“It’s already cracking up. It’s just not good enough at all. The Government is trying to encourage more people to take up cycling but with all these potholes around it’s just too dangerous.”

Anybody wishing to highlight their own problematic potholes can visit the Campaign section of this website.