Torrential downpours have increased the spread of potholes across Bermuda, the Ministry of Public Works said yesterday.

“The ministry has responded by diverting additional men to the task of filling these potholes to supplement our regular highways patching teams,” said a spokeswoman, adding that work on several remaining potholes was due to be completed today.

Potholes have long been a bane of Bermuda’s taxi industry due to the toll on vehicles.

Aishah Muhammad, the office manager at Co-Op Taxi Service and a private driver, described the prevalence of potholes as “a big problem”.

“Taxi drivers have to do so much maintenance on their cars, and a lot of it is due to hitting these potholes. Some of them are huge,” she said.

“People put out a lot of money to run their taxis, and not being able to maintain them because of potholes in the road is ridiculous.

“The Government really needs to get on top of this.”

The Royal Gazette spotted potholes at locations including Hermitage Road, Lovers Lane ,and Mill Creek Road yesterday.

The Ministry of Public Works spokewoman added: “Although roads are kept in as safe a condition as possible through routine patching work, there is a substantial length of the public road network which needs resurfacing to prevent further deterioration and reduce the need for pothole filling.

“The ministry is intending to operate two road resurfacing teams after Christmas to accelerate its programme of road resurfacing work, focusing mainly on main roads but also mending some side roads in poor condition.”

• If members of the public wish to report any problematic potholes on public roads, they can e-mail the principal highways engineer at kjmasser@gov.bm