A longstanding Fife pothole has been nicknamed Old Faithful by fed-up locals.
The broken tarmac near Inverkeithing railway station has been shredding tyres and damaging alloys for almost a year.
And one cheeky motorist even photoshopped a Santa hat and face onto it before posting it on Facebook at Christmas time.
However, the end could finally be in sight for Old Faithful – also dubbed Inverkeithing’s pet pothole – as its first anniversary looms.
Fife Council is finally preparing to permanently fill it in following several temporary, emergency patches.
SNP councillor David Barratt said: “It’s about time the council got to the bottom of it!”
‘It’s been there so long people have adopted it’
Old Faithful, in Boreland Road, was first reported in February 2023.
However, according to Mr Barratt, it was a return visit following a previous appearance, which was fixed.
“Almost on a daily basis it was causing damage to vehicles, with people losing tyres and alloys to it,” he said.
“It’s been nearly a year since I first reported it this time and since then it’s been repair and fail, repair and fail.
“It’s been there so long people have adopted it as their pet pothole and one person even joked he was going to start a campaign to keep it.
“But I don’t think they’ll miss it once it’s finally gone.”
Inverkeithing pothole to be fixed permanently
Mr Barratt said he’d been informed by council officers that Old Faithful would be fixed permanently after Scottish Water repaired nearby manhole covers.
“The council made a big fuss about putting additional money into repairing roads and justified a significant rise in council tax to do that,” he said.
“A lot of people will wonder where the money has gone because they’re not really seeing an increase in efficiency in repairing potholes.
“And the online reporting system isn’t very user-friendly.”
Fife Council is investing in roads
Fife Council pledged an additional £3.5 million investment in the region’s roads in September.
It said the money would help deal with a backlog of repairs that built up last winter.
And it said it was making good progress in clearing the backlog, with nearly 40,000 square metres of roads and pavements repaired.
Conversation