Public Works at it's Finest

Since my dad used to be in the Public Works business I have what you might call a "heightened radar" for issues that I know would catch his eye.  Isn't it funny how our parent's peccadilloes get passed on to us?

We have one such issue on the street where our warehouse is.
What is it, you ask?
Well, I'll tell you.

The street has never really been in tip-top shape.  You can see bits of the original cobblestones in many places.

The stretch of street just outside our warehouse.  The famed cobbles of Manchester peeking through.

A couple of weeks ago, three road barriers showed up.  They were set up to make a little triangle around a small pothole in the middle of the road.  At the time it seemed a bit excessive given that it's a fairly small street.

A felled barrier.

People seemed to continue about their business, largely ignoring the barriers.  It didn't take long before they were knocked over and lay flay in the street.  Eventually, someone dragged them to the side since they were just getting run over.

You can just make out the hole at the right of the first white line.

Today, Ross and I crossed the road to go get lunch and noticed the pothole.  Previously, it had really just been a bit of a dip in the road.

My goodness!  As soon as Ross realized how deep the hole was, he called out for me to not stand so close to it.  (For the record, I was a good 10 feet from the hole and in no danger at all- it was cute though).  The pothole is now about 2.5 feet across and about a foot deep!

A close up.

So now our small street, which gets regular traffic from large lorrytrucks (that's a bonus Ameringlish word for ya!) has a massive gaping hole with no warning or imminent work to be done.

This reminds me of a story I read a while back (I looked for it, but couldn't find... sorry) about an English village that could no longer afford to keep repairing their roads.  They opted to scrape off all of the asphalt and fully uncover the cobblestones that are underneath.  This option, not only saved them money on repairs, but ended up acting as a speed deterrent!

Is there a number like 311 that you can call to report public works issues?
Should we take bets on how long it takes before a truck breaks and axle from a wheel falling in the hole?
Or should we stage an accident where I fall in the hole and we win a lawsuit for millions of pounds from Manchester? ;)