A WAGGA resident who has been unable to drive his car for the past few days after hitting a pothole says he is fed up with the condition of the city's roads.
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Zachary Wales had been driving along Hammond Avenue, from Forest Hill towards the city, when his car struck a pothole near Busabout on Friday morning.
Mr Wales said he hadn't seen the pothole until he was "pretty much on top of it".
"I saw the pothole at the last second and had no time to avoid it despite my best efforts," he said.
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As a result, the front tyre on the passenger side of his car burst, with suspected damage to the rim and likely internal damage.
Mr Wales said he has been trying to take the car to a mechanic so he can figure out the extent of the damage and have it fixed, but he hasn't been able to remove the flat tyre to replace it with a spare as it has become stuck.
As a result, he has been left without a car to get to and from work.
Mr Wales said with all of the funding the government gets, he would expect better maintenance of Wagga roads
Wagga mechanic Andrew Walsh, from Andrew Walsh Mechanical Repairs, said he himself had been a victim of the city's pothole problem.
"I did my Mercedes last week, the same thing, a damaged rim from a pothole," he said.
Mr Walsh said he was constantly repairing rims and doing suspension repairs, but he said it was hard to gauge if they were all a direct result of potholes.
However, he said he frequently saw people coming in needing car repairs after hitting potholes.
Mr Walsh said it was a prominent issue locally and seems to be more common in Wagga than other places.
"Our roads are worse than some metropolitan areas," he said.
"When I was younger I worked in Sydney and I didn't see near as much damage there as I do here."
A spokesperson for Transport for NSW said unprecedented rainfall has caused extensive damage to roads across the state, including potholes and general surface damage.
"Transport for NSW road crews are working proactively to make repairs, keeping roads open and safe for motorists," the spokesperson said.
"Crews have repaired tens of thousands of potholes across the state in the past few months.
"Transport for NSW undertakes routine inspection and maintenance on our road network and works to prioritise urgent repairs where required."
To make a compensation claim visit https://www.service.nsw.gov.au/transaction/lodge-public-liability-claim-transport-nsw
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