The wife of a cyclist, thrown from his bike after hitting a pothole in a busy street on Sunday, has condemned Surrey County Council for ignoring the appalling state of Epsom’s roads.

The resident contacted the Epsom Guardian after her husband, in his 50s, spent hours in Epsom’s A&E following the fall in Rosebank, Epsom, on Sunday afternoon.

She said: "There are several potholes along that road which have merged.  He completely fell off his bike into the street. 

"This was in the middle of traffic.  He had injuries on his face and neck. 

"The potholes in this whole area have been totally ignored."

SCC revealed on, July 2, that Project Horizon, a £100m investment to replace the county’s worst roads over the next five years, will allocate £6m to Epsom and Ewell, enabling 30km of road repairs.

But, under the scheme, Rosebank is not due to be repaired until 2014 to 2015.

Jamie Chisholm, owner of Bike Beans Cycle Cafe, in Ashtead, believes the cycling dangers caused by potholes is a "huge issue" but feels it is "not a priority for the council at the moment".

He said: "Most of the potholes that get any attention are in the middle of roads, but the majority of them seem to be on the edges - bang in the lane where cyclists are going.

"It makes it really dangerous as cyclists will swing out to avoid them.

"With a car, potholes can damage wheels, but it’s unlikely to cause accident or injury.  With a bike, if you’re lucky, it will just cause a swerve.

"A few people have come into the cafe recently and said they’ve ended up in a right mess."

Brian Hill, secretary of Epsom Cycling Club, said that accidents and deaths from potholes are likely to increase as the number of cyclists continues to rise.

He added: "When we go on rides, we’re having to point out potholes to other riders constantly, before we could just ride along and enjoy the day."

A spokesman for national charity CTC, Cyclists' Touring Club, said the problem has been caused by reduced investment in road maintenance, which is set to continue.

He said CTC encourages people to report potholes on its Fill That Hole website, a record of which is then sent to the highways authorities.

The spokesman said: "Only 30 to 35 per cent of our members’ claims are successful in these cases as it’s hard to establish liability. 

"Highways authorities have a defence of not being made aware of the pothole."

Surrey currently has 3,942 reports made against it on the website.

Visit www.ctc.org.uk/ to report a pothole.

Have you had an accident because of potholes?  Email Hardeep Matharu on the newsdesk on hmatharu@london.newsquest.co.uk.