Motorists are complaining about rogue stones on the A41 which are still damaging cars despite the road being resurfaced six months ago.
Neil Churchley, of Tring, was left with a hefty £2,500 bill to respray his car after a half hour trip along the dual carriageway left the paintwork peppered with stone chips.
He said: “I can’t tell you how annoyed I am. I phoned the company that resurfaced the roads and they told me that that’s the way they do it now – they let traffic flow bed in any loose stones. It doesn’t seem fair to me.”
Last July saw overnight closures as engineers worked to resurface and repair the stretch of road between Tring and Bourne End – work which cost £500,000.
But it seems the surface still hasn’t settled and motorists have posted tales of cracked windscreens and chipped bonnets on Facebook.
One said: “I was travelling in a car the other day and a stone hit the windscreen and cracked it on the A41!”.
Another said: “Six stones hit my windscreen as soon as I joined the A41 at the Tring/Wiggington junction heading towards Hemel.
“I’ve driven this road pretty much every day for the last 10 years and this is a new thing.”
A spokesperson from Herts County Council said: “Engineers will be inspecting the road this week to establish whether there is an issue with the road surface, and what may have caused it.
“Should people wish to make an insurance claim, they should complete the highway incident form, which can be downloaded from www.hertsdirect.org, and returned to the address on the form.
“If people are having problems with stones, they can report it at www.hertsdirect.org/highwayfaults.”
It also seems the section of road that was left untouched by last year’s scheme is now sorely in need of attention.
Stephen Rudden of Cotterells, Hemel Hempstead travels to and from work on the A41 each day.
He said: “There are some incredibly deep potholes along the stretch between the A414 and the M25.
“I drive along there early in the morning when it’s dark, and it’s very dangerous. Some of the holes are four, five, six inches deep – and if a motorcyclist hits them at 70, they’re going to fall off.”
Stephen says he believes the damage may be due to the recent wet weather, but he wants road chiefs to take another look and repair the holes.