CONCERNS have been raised over the state of the roads between Burnham and Southminster.

Residents have expressed fears about sunken drains causing damage to cars and forcing drivers onto the wrong side of road between the two towns.

Toby Mallett, of Southminster, drives the route every day and says the problems have become horrendous.

He said: “On a daily basis I drive from Southminster to Burnham County Primary School to drop my children off and collect them in the afternoon. My issue is the dropped drainage covers running from the start of the 30mph limit near the Beauchamps estate all the way into Southminster.

“Every drainage cover along that road, I believe there are four possibly five, have dropped at least three centimetres and are loose.

“You can drive over them if you want, but they can completely wreck your car. I tend to go on the opposite side of the road to avoid them which isn’t always possible for obvious reasons.

“The other day they had road re-surfacing laying new tarmac on the entrance to Barnmead Way near Beauchamps. The Beauchamps side of the road was closed which meant you had to drive on the opposite side of the road where all the sunken drains were.

“When driving along that side of the road over the man holes they are absolutely horrendous. I have started reporting these dangerous problems in a 30mph speed limit and hope others will too.”

A spokesman for Essex Highways said: “We inspected these drain covers a few days ago and found that, while they have sunk slightly below the surface of the road, they do not pose a significant risk to road users.

"As a main route, this road is inspected in detail regularly and any deterioration will be logged for repair."

Problems with the drains and drain covers can be reported by visiting essexhighways.org/transport-and-roads.