RESIDENTS have praised a dad who took it upon himself to fix a pothole-infested road.

Benjamin Pace, who fixes cars for a living, was frustrated about the amount of potholes in Colchester.

The last straw was when his fiancee went down a pothole in her BMW a few days ago, and ended up with a hole in the back wheel.

Ben, who is a father of two boys, said: "She wasn't going at speed, I just lost my head.

"It's very scary, when you are in this business you see a lot of mangled cars due to potholes.

"We started the business up two and a half years ago and I reckon there are four or five times the amount of cars coming in with damaged alloys due to potholes."

He and his business partner Adam Bischoff have recently opened another PaceAutomotive Body Repairs unit in Spurgeon Street, Colchester.

He said there are at least three potholes in the road, which are very deep.

Fed up with seeing the potholes unfilled, he and Adam spotted some workmen filling in a road around the corner and asked them if they would help fill the holes in Spurgeon Street.

He said: "To be honest with the fear of getting into trouble we did three holes and didn't want to do any more.

"It was my decision to make that road accessible. I see so many people driving with their children in the car and I just think, what if? It's not for me. "What will be will be and I'm sure with all the support I have had Essex County Council wouldn't say anything about it."

This is not a permanent fix, the holes have been filled in and the repairs will last between six and eight months.

Mr Pace added: "It's better than having the holes. I saw two men working on a permanent fix on another road and they had some tarmac.

"I told them about Spurgeon Street and they said if they had any tarmac left at the end they would be happy to help.

"It would be really easy for the council to get a team of guys just fixing potholes, even if it's just a temporary fix.

"I do not want anything from the council, but this is about safety and the roads are not safe."

When residents of Spurgeon Street heard the works happening outside they thought it was the council repairing the road.

When Ben told them he was carrying out the works himself, they were surprised.

He said: "I wanted to show people you can do something to make a difference, one word that isn't used much any more is community.

"We are just a couple of guys sick of the fact nobody is doing anything, and contractors are trying to charge £250 per pothole."

Essex Highways had been out to investigate the road, but during the most recent inspection they said repairs were not required at the time.

They said the issue will continue to be monitored through regular safety inspections.

An Essex Highways spokesman said: “It is not advisable to work on the road without the appropriate safety precautions, and we strongly advise against it.

"Spurgeon Street is a narrow, low speed local road with few, lower risk defects on the road and pavements.

"We aspire to repair all highway defects in good time, but we must prioritise spending on the highest risk issues.”