Oxfordshire pothole filler abuse ‘increasing’ boss alleges

The county, which has received repeated calls for action on its highways, including from the Prime Minister, sees more than 1,000 emergency pothole reports a week.

According to the county council, there has been a major rise in repairs, with the number of crews increased from seven to 25 to tackle its pothole backlog

Since January 2026, contractor M Group has repaired more than 33,000 highway defects – compared to 37,042 potholes filled in the whole of 2024- 25.

This rise in repairs has also come with rising abuse towards the people carrying out the work.

Richard Lovewell, M Group business director, said: “It just makes me really, really sad.

“I think what makes me even sadder is the guys expect it now, and they just think it’s part of the job, and nobody should come to work to be spat at and abused.”

Richard Lovewell at Wildmere Road pothole filling trial (Image: Isabella Harris/NQ)

He explained: “These guys work very, very hard in all weathers and all environments.

“We appreciate that if we’re out with traffic management it can cause some inconvenience, but there’s people getting hit, there’s people getting sworn at, and we’re doing everything we possibly can.

“We’ve brought in body-worn video, we use static CCTV, anything that we can do.”

He added: “We recently had a high-speed police chase come through one of our sites.

“It’s one of the major hazards.

“It’s incursions – we obviously shut roads off, people don’t take any notice of that, and if that’s their shortcut, that’s their shortcut.

“What they’ve got to realise is that they’re putting lives in danger by doing that.

“Let’s be honest, if you worked in a bank, you wouldn’t expect people to line up and swear at you all day.”

Mr Lovewell wants to address “public perception” about pothole roadworks, saying “if we could, we’d resurface every road in Oxfordshire – obviously, as a contractor, we get given certain budgets”.

He added: “If a pothole fails for any reason, from a workmanship issue or anything, we repair that free of charge, and that’s our risk.

“I don’t think people know that.”

He also highlighted some of the better experiences the workers have while out on the job – young children are often fascinated by the roadworks.

Mr Lovewell said members of his work gangs “take the time to chat to the kids, tell them what they’re doing”.

He said kids especially like the ‘Dragon Patcher’ – a “huge, big, fire-breathing pothole machine”.