Orpington man 'tours' Bromley potholes with toy bus

Tim Webb snaps photos of a toy coach next to each pothole in Bromley before uploading them to social media.

The 66-year-old is hoping to spark the local council into action - saying behind the humour lies a serious issue.

Mr Webb said: “I’m taking photos of toy people on a toy coach as they take a tour of the greatest hits, essentially.

“The pothole tourism industry is taking off."

Mr Webb started his campaigning in January 2023 after becoming fed up with a pothole near his home in Orpington.

He reported the issue to the council – but they simply placed a traffic cone inside the hole, he claims.

Then, when it got bigger, two traffic cones were placed inside.

So he decided to start taking pictures with potholes, before putting them online.

He said: “I thought, what’s going on here? The council had made two visits to the pothole, just to dump traffic cones there. “They could have repaired the pothole in that time.

“I try to create a funny scene, using toys to tell a story.

“Once I had a toy flying saucer ‘crash’ around a group of potholes, and the story was that its GPS got confused and mistook them for craters on its own planet. “Another time, it had been raining and there was water in a pothole, so I had a story about a hippo creating its own home.

“Sometimes it’s simple – it's a zebra in a pothole on a zebra crossing.” Mr Webb said the aim of his work is to ‘prompt’ Bromley Council to act.

As well as posting his photos on Facebook, he also keeps in touch with the council’s Highways Team.

He said: “The hope is to prompt them to do something. Because while this is obviously all humorous, at its heart it's a serious issue.

“People can damage their cars, which costs money, time and stress. Others, like cyclists, can really hurt themselves.

“You could come off your bike and end up with life-changing injuries.

“I’m not expecting every single pothole in Bromley to be fixed overnight. I’m just asking for some information on when we can expect the issue to be resolved.”

Mr Webb has had a lot of positive feedback on his work – and he’s happy to help the community.

“People are very supportive and appreciative of what I do, and often thank me for highlighting the problem,” he said.

“I’m aware that I shouldn’t need to do what I’m doing – it wouldn’t be necessary if the council was doing their job. “But I see myself as a community helper.

“And I’m proud of the improvements that I’ve helped make.

“There are definitely less potholes now than there were a year ago.”

While Mr Webb likes to share his work with others, he warns against copying him.

He said: “I don’t just go out there on a whim – I do my due diligence and I research, so I can make sure I’m safe on the roads.

“Please don’t copy what I do as putting items around a pothole on a busy road is dangerous – and it can put you or other road users in harm’s way.”

Mr Webb also tracks the progress of each pothole in a spreadsheet, using resident reports posted to FixMyStreet to record each road defect before keeping count of how many days the council takes to fix them.

Some have been there for several weeks or months - but Mr Webb’s ‘favourite’, near the fire station in Orpington, remains unfixed after 456 days, he claims. Another of the ‘best’ ones, he said, is near The Elm Tree pub in Elmers End.

He said: “It’s so bad that traffic has to cross into the opposite carriageway to avoid the pothole.”

A spokesperson for Bromley Council said: “Every council in the country and indeed across Europe has had to deal with an increase in the past few years of potholes as cold weather has been followed by long periods of heavy rain.

“As London’s largest borough our road network is equal to the distance from London to Zurich.

“We have a clear criteria for dealing with potholes based on seriousness, depth and location.

“Last year we employed an additional contractor to assist. We particularly welcome the grant from the Government from the HS2 cancellation fund which will enable us to resurface rather than patch some roads and we are investigating the purchase of machines which can speed up repairs and have already tested one.

“Whilst Mr Webb’s campaign has given much amusement and we welcome all reports from road users on our website, the reality is that we have a methodical and logical process for repairs and this year, despite the torrential rain, we have reduced the number of potholes very considerably.”