Perfect Potholes!
28/01/2026
Where in the Banbury and Brackley area is most perfect pothole specimen?
Its pothole season and this year is delivering a bumper crop!
They are springing up on our crater filled carriageways by the hour. But whist the most magnificent marrows and top terrific turnips can be celebrated at summer produce shows, there is no such award for the humble pothole … until now.
Banbury FM wants to hear your nomination for the area’s Perfect Pothole. Are you aware of one that is formed to perfection, with the right depth and diametre to maximise its impact, aligned in the carriageway to make its presence known.
Nominate your Perfect Pothole using the form below.
But act quickly because the council road fixing crews might just fill in the specimen you are nominating. You never know!
Perfect Pothole 1 – 02/02/26
This sprawling little beauty on Howard Road in Banbury at the junction with Middleton Road has been nominated by Ruth for its sheer determination not to be filled in. In fact its spreading faster than a family of rampant rabbits!
Ruth says: “There are several and they are growing bigger every day … it was first reported on 28 December last year and has been repaired several times”.
We think its deserving of its placing in our list of Perfect Potholes – the pothole that refuses to die!
Perfect Pothole 2 – 04/02/26
Tony told us about this little treat which anyone on a tour of Banbury should pop and take a look at – although if you are heading to one of the Calthorpe Street car parks from South Bar it will find you!
Its perfectly designed to give you a little wheel rumble and sterring wheel shudder before the final crash and clank as you descend to the depths of this town centre crater.
Tony said: “The thud after hitting this was enough to wake the wife up – I won’t be coming that way again”!
Perfect Pothole 3 – 05/02/26
We introduce the Big Daddy of potholes, found by Sarah … or more precisely Sarah’s now wrecked wheel on Mill Lane as you head from the Aynho Road towards Kings Sutton.
Positioned a short distance after the M40 bridge, its smack bang in the nearside wheel’s line. The design of this tyre terror leads you gently down to its deepest point before a cliff face of an edge out faces you. The noise of the bang can only be equalled by the screaming noise you make when you hear the cost of replacing the tyre and wheel and getting the tracking sorted.
Sarah said: “I was on my way to see my friend in Kings Sutton. Instead I saw the RAC man and a [rude word] great big dent in my credit card bill”.
Perfect Pothole 4 – 06/02/26
This little treasure is one of many in Barney Flintstone Way … aka the Southam Road in Banbury – a carriageway where you are spoilt for pothole choice, with only a few patches of tarmac interupting the flow of craters.
Deb noted that “if you drove into it, you wouldn’t get out”. We suspect there are fish swimming around in this one and divers searching for other drivers who didn’t swerve out of the way in time.
