A HOLE in the road has left driver Sue Holden deflated after she was told that the council would not take responsibility for damage to her vehicle.

Heading home from work at Bury's Asda store one evening in January, Miss Holden was driving along York Street when she says her drivers' wheel dipped into a hole.

No damage was apparent until the next morning, when she found the tyre was flat.

After complaining to the council and being asked to give them an estimate, Miss Holden was told that the highways department would not foot a £222 repair bill.

They argued that the road had been routinely inspected in November and that the authority had not been negligent.

Miss Holden (48), of Trent Drive, Bury, pictured by the filled-in hole, said: "In a nutshell they're saying that if a hole appears between inspections then it's your own hard luck.

"Why should I suffer because of something that was not my fault?

"It was dark and it is not a well lit street at the best of times, so how was I supposed to know there was a hole there?"

But Bury Council engineering manager Ian Walker said that the council's legal obligation was to provide a reasonable regime of road inspection. The hole was repaired after they were alerted to it by Miss Holden.

He said: "We consider that if the case went to court it would stand and fall on our inspection regime and we believe that that regime could be seen to be reasonable in court.

"The question is whether we can be held responsible for every hole in the road that appears, as it happens, at every minute of the day.

"The answer is that we cannot."