A POTHOLE which was repaired before Christmas left a motorist with a £200 repair bill.

Janet Jackson’s red Chevrolet Matiz hit the pothole while she was driving along Bolton Road, Kearsley, towards Farnworth, on Sunday evening.

Mrs Jackson, aged 54, of Selside Court, Stone-clough, was with her son Thomas, aged 29, when she hit the pothole, opposite Jackson Street.

Her car’s ball joint, part of the suspension which allows the wheels to steer, was broken in the accident.

Engineers visited the area and repaired the pothole within 24 hours after Mrs Jackson reported the car damage to Bolton Council — even though the pothole had been repaired on December 21.

She said: “I was in such a state of shock. All of a sudden my car hit this pothole and made a massive clunk.

“It’s not just that pothole, there’s loads round there. It’s a nightmare.”

She added: “I’m just glad that I was with somebody and that I wasn’t far from home. It could have been seriously dangerous.”

Mrs Jackson was watching the Manchester United match with her family at the Market Street Tavern in Stoneclough, on January 5, when son Christian said he wanted to get some money from a cash machine.

It was while Mrs Jackson was on the way to get the cash, at 5.15pm, when the accident occurred.

The AA took her car away and has since had Mrs Jackson’s car repaired. A council spokesman said: “Potholes such as these, which are on a busy main route, are repaired within 24 hours and as soon as it was reported to us, we went out and fixed it.

“This pothole was originally repaired on December 21, but unfortunately the repair didn’t last due to the adverse wet weather.”

The spokesman added: “This does not mean that repairs fail — most do not. However, the chance of failure is always going to be higher in less than perfect conditions.”

A survey published last year by the Department of Transport revealed that the borough’s “unclass-ified” roads, which are mainly residential, were the fourth worst out of 116 local authorities.

Pothole compensation paid out to drivers in Bolton last year came to around the same as the year before, despite a 50 per cent cut in highway funding.

To report potholes ring 01204 336600 or visit the Bolton Council website — bolton.gov.uk — and fill in an online form.