DISGRUNTLED neighbours who say their lives have been blighted by crater-ridden roads can breathe a sigh of relief after a promised cash injection.

Reading Borough Council’s 2014/15 highway maintenance programme includes £16,960 of funding for Victoria Road in Tilehurst, where residents say potholes have caused havoc for years.

When The Chronicle visited the road last week, sales manager Nick Steward, 56, who has lived in the road for 21 years, said: “The potholes are really bad.

“Some holes are filled in and the council leave the ones which are not deemed deep enough.

“That seems stupid. While they are here they might as well do them all. It’s been a long-running saga. From a personal point of view, you are forever having to dodge the holes. This is the worst the road has ever been.

“My car has got a low profile and the tyres get a good old bashing. It’s good they’re finally doing something about them.”

Community staff nurse Kathy Hunter, 50, who has lived in the road for 19 years, said: “It’s been a nuisance. My little car rattles around all the time.

“It’s in the worst state it’s ever been in. It’s a real pain.”

The work is part of the council’s minor surfacing project which totals £305,000 across the borough. Reading’s transport leader, Cllr Tony Page, said: “All public roads in Reading have a routine safety inspection – A roads are inspected monthly, B and C roads every quarter and unclassified roads – of which Victoria Road is one – are inspected annually.

“Like all local authority areas, high levels of rainfall followed by cold winters have caused considerable damage to Reading roads and where large potholes are found they are repaired.

“If members of the public report dangerous defects in between inspections, we visit and assess the problem.

“Reading is made up of approximately 247 miles of roads and we work to prioritise the worst potholes on the highway network.”