A YOUNG tradesman has devised a hilarious way of bringing attention to the pothole-ridden roads in his local area – by planting flowers in them.
Harry Smith-Haggett has taken it upon himself to flag up the holes in nearby roads to the local council in West Sussex in a series of videos he titles “Pretty Potholes”.
The 22-year-old runs his own company in Horsham which specialises in brickwork, landscaping and decorating, but has started the side project in the hopes of getting the road issues addressed whilst having a laugh.
In his videos, he fills potholes with soil before planting brightly coloured flowers so that they are visible to drivers – and says that “100%” of the holes he has filled in have been seen to by the council.
The latest instalment on Wednesday shows Harry wearing a pink high-visibility vest bearing the “Pretty Potholes” slogan on the back, attending to a pothole on a country road.
He is holding a bucket of soil, a trowel and a pot containing white flowers as he approaches the hole in the road, saying: “Another absolute rim-wrecker that we’re going to sort out here today.
Holding up the bucket, he says: “Premium topsoil in the pothole.”
Pouring the soil into the water-filled crevice, he spreads it around with the trowel.
He quips: “Got a bit of a bogger. She’s a bit of a bogger, look at that.”
He then grabs the plant and starts to deposit it in the soil as he admits: “I don’t know what this plant’s called, but it’s a beauty.”
His mate filming then zooms in on the label, revealing it to be a “phlox paniculata”, or garden phlox.
As he carries on planting, he says: “That’ll allow the roots to sprout up nicely there. Crack away at that a little bit, pack her in.
“And that’s a wrap.”
He stands up and throws his arms back in celebration as he admires his handiwork.
Harry shared the clip to social media on Wednesday with the caption: “Pretty potholes.”
It has since received over 92,000 likes and more than 530 comments from social media users tickled by Harry’s exploits.
One commented: “You’re going to need a complete garden centre for my road.”
Another said: “When you said pretty potholes, why for a minute did I think you were going to fill it in with pink coloured tarmac or something?”
A third, one of many requesting he attends to their own pothole-ridden streets, said: “Please come to Stoke, you’d make it look like Kew Gardens.”
Another asked: “Have you ever gone back to one of the potholes you’ve done?”
Harry replied: “Yes, and as it stands 100% of them have been seen to by the council. This one I haven’t been back to yet.”
A fifth said: “Only today at work we were talking about the person who was painting penises around potholes. This is much more pleasing to the eye.”
Speaking today, Harry said: “I’m sick and tired of the road standards where I live so I’m hoping to gain some attention and make people smile while doing so.”
