Last year, the main road near my house was resurfaced. A gleaming new layer of tarmacadam was applied to a road which does see a lot of traffic (20 buses an hour during the day, and it’s near the football ground).

The roadway is now falling apart.

Huge lumps of tarmac are missing, sometimes in runs of 10 feet or more, and all deep enough for you to wish you hadn’t just driven over them. The sections that join the smaller estate roads have cut up badly, too. I now have to drive over two potholes onto Beeston Road from mine, and the busy junction near the bus stop might as well be shale. They’ve been patched up, but not everywhere and fairly unevenly.

Now the question is: is this due to heavy traffic, or just shoddy workmanship? Should I complain to my local councillors? And what exactly was wrong with the old roadway?