Kebab shop sends out food delivery to 90-year-old stranded by pothole damage in Bristol

A kebab shop came to the rescue of a 90-year-old woman and her daughter after they were left stranded when tyres on their vehicle were ‘wrecked’ by a country road full of potholes.

Jill Hireson was with her mother Kath Cains when she was driving along Golden Valley Road toward Bitton, just outside Bristol, when ‘it felt like we were going into a ditch’ on as they went over a stretch of potholes.

Jill got out of the car and discovered both side tyres were flat - and made a call to the AA for rescue. But as time went by waiting for recovery, both Jill and her mother became hungry and put in an order to a local kebab house, First Choice Kebab Shop in Barrs Court.

And to their amazement - with the help of a post code obtained from a nearby cottage - the shop was quick to get their order of pizza, chicken, chips and homemade coleslaw to them. Jill then took a picture of her grateful mother tucking into the chips in the front passenger seat.

“It was a very interesting conversation [with the delivery driver], but they found us,” Jill said. “They were very friendly and helpful.”

The food brought some relief to the situation before Jill’s son came to pick up her mother. Soon after, the AA arrived and took Jill to a nearby garage in Keynsham where she got the two tyres replaced and balanced for £200.

The episode happened yesterday (April 10) shortly after 1pm, and soon after Jill shared images of the damaged road on social media. One person replied: “It is worse than that in places due to years of poorly done patch repairs.”

Jill added: “The road is terrible for the potholes and I wanted to warn other motorists. Speaking to someone on the road, they said it was down to years fo the council patching up the problem without sorting it for the long-term.

“The potholes wrecked my car and left us in a difficult situation. Thankfully, the AA were fabulous and we were able to get food out to us. But I wouldn’t want others to face the same thing.”

Data from the Department for Transport shows that in the last financial year 2021/22, the council carried out strengthening or repair work to just 1.9 miles of its 1,409.8 miles of B and C-category roads.

A spokesperson for South Gloucestershire Council said: “This time of year is traditionally busy in terms of repairing potholes as the cold and wet weather over the winter months takes its toll on our road surfaces. We repair around 11,000 potholes a year, although it is difficult to provide an exact number as repairs may include multiple potholes under one job. We have filled 17 per cent more potholes since the start of January compared to this time last year.”

He added that the council was investing more than £12 million in maintenance and improvements to the existing transport network this year, and that crews were out five days a week and sometimes on weekends filling potholes.

To report a pothole or road defect visit www.southglos.gov.uk/reportit