Bury St Edmunds man Tom Lamb, of Mint Groundworks, takes it upon himself to fix potholes in The Avenue, Great Barton

A landscape gardener decided to take matters into his own hands and repair potholes to ‘help people out’.

Not content for the situation to continue any longer, Tom Lamb filled in potholes in The Avenue, Great Barton, near Bury St Edmunds, on Monday morning.

Tom, 40, who owns Mint Groundworks, said the temporary fix – using crushed up old tar – cost him £30 and took him 20 minutes – and he wouldn’t hesitate to repair potholes again if necessary.

He saw complaints about the state of the road online and also uses the route himself.

“I thought it’s ridiculous with the roads looking like that and I would take it into my own hands and do the council’s job for them,” said Tom, who lives on Bury’s Moreton Hall estate. “I just did it on a whim and to help people out.”

He said he used a ‘tonne’ of material to fill the holes, near the junction with the A143.

“I just got my wheelbarrow and shovel and I filled them up as quickly as I could to get away from the lorries,” he said.

Tom, whose company does landscaping, paths, driveways, has been a landscape gardener for more than 20 years and is in his third year of having his own company.

While filling potholes ‘is not part of my job’, he said the ones in The Avenue ‘were so bad and people were damaging their cars’.

When asked whether he would take it upon himself to fix potholes again, he said: “If I had to, I would definitely. Just to help out the community and get people moving.”

Speaking about the state of the roads in general, he said: “Not great at all. Everywhere really, especially down the lanes, just from the lorries.”

His message to Suffolk County Council, which runs Suffolk Highways, is: “It’s not that hard to go out to fix the holes really; one day to go around the whole of Bury, at least the worst ones.”

Cllr Sarah Broughton, who represents the Fornhams and Great Barton on West Suffolk Council, said: “Well done him. I thank him really very much from all the residents of Great Barton and all the people who use that road.”

Suffolk Highways’ contractors were due to carry out repairs in The Avenue, Fornham Road and Livermere Road, in Great Barton, earlier this week.

HGVs are reported to be using The Avenue due to the closure of Compiegne Way, causing the road surface and verges to break up.

Cllr Broughton said the potholes were ‘a dreadful size and it’s unacceptable’.

“All these potholes have been reported numerous times and I’m really glad to see the work is eventually going to happen,” she added.

County cllr Beccy Hopfensperger has been pushing for the work to take place.