Britain's most potholed road finally gets filled - by the Mail! Residents ... trends now

There is something rather wonderful about driving a two-tonne roller over freshly spread Tarmac. The way it softens and soothes. The lovely finish. The warm sweet smell of bitumen and the dangerous sense of invincibility as you squash everything in your path.

But perhaps, best of all, is the fact that I'm driving it here in the rather grandly named Whitehall; a 200-yard stretch of bumpy lane on the outskirts of the historic port of Watchet on the Somerset coast.

Whitehall links the town to the village of Washford, the coastal path and the West Somerset Mineral Line — an old railway once used to transport iron ore down to the harbour.

On one side of the lane are the back gates of a stretch of neat little cottages. On the other, a few cosy retirement homes — in turquoise, pink and yellow, with happy names like Sunrays, Sunset Cottage and The Dingle.

All are immaculately tended, with climbing roses, lovingly planted rock gardens and the odd gnome.

But Whitehall itself is a disgrace.

Or at least it was, until the Daily Mail got here, with the wonderful Daniel McFayden and his team of lads from DanMac Tarmac Contractors to fix it.

Lumpy, bumpy, cracked and crumbling; and riven with so many potholes, 21 at the last count, filled with murky brown water and some up to eight inches deep — this little lane was recently crowned England's most potholed road. Not that the local council seems to care.

Much more worrying though, is that it was also a very strong contender for England's most dangerous road.

Because unlike other severely potholed roads, the real problem here isn't the odd flat tyre, damaged undercarriage, or insurance claim — though surely no one would drive down here out of choice.

No, it is the dozens of accidents being sustained by those walking on this short stretch of badly-lit road.

Not just the odd twisted ankle and grazed knee — though there have been plenty of these. We're talking concussions, emergency ambulances and at least three hospital stays as residents, visitors and ramblers have fallen victim to the potholes.

One walking group from Williton refer to it as 'Break Ankle Lane' on their Facebook group.

A lady from Kent who was visiting Bill and Sheila Wilson in Sunrays fell, hit her head and suffered a bleed on the brain.

Another resident tripped, fell, knocked herself out and was in hospital for three days.

And a few months back, a cyclist hit a pothole hard and went whizzing over the handlebars.

Paul Stevens, at 44 one of Whitehall's youngsters, is forever dashing out of his home to help people.

'I found one old boy in a terrible state, covered in blood. He'd hit his head on Edna Scutt's wall so I called him an ambulance.'

Paul's wife, Donna, 45, twisted her ankle in broad daylight in one of the deeper holes and was off work for a fortnight.

'We've been doing everything we can to get the council to fix it,' he says. But, sadly, with no joy.

Because as long as anyone can remember, other than insisting that the issue is 'complex' and tricky, the council has done absolutely nothing — no mending, no patching, no lovely new shiny black asphalt.

Instead, when a section of the local coastal path was closed due to a landslide, they diverted even more walkers and cyclists down Whitehall. The local highways department has insisted it was not their responsibility because Whitehall was a footpath.

And then the footpaths department insisted that, because the potholes were over 2.5 metres apart, it was fine just to walk down the middle. Then, a couple of weeks ago, it was apparently scandalously suggested by the council that the residents — most of whom are in their 80s and 90s — must have caused the damage and should fix the potholes themselves. Which did not impress Sheila Wilson very much. 'Really?! I don't know very much about filling in roads, so I'm not sure it's for me,' she says, still rather surprised by it all as we drink coffee on her green leather three-piece suite.

'I've travelled all over the world, I've done a lot. I've lived in Hong Kong, I chopped down trees in the war. So I'd have a go and do my best — of course I would — but I'm going to be 102 in June!'

In fact, the whole situation sounded so mad, bad, and totally bananas that, this week, the Daily Mail decided to step in and fix Whitehall once and for all.

With the help of the DanMac team, who drove all the way from Surrey to do it at a ridiculously cut-price rate because, as Daniel puts it, flashing a very shiny gold molar: 'I'm a bit of a softie when it comes to Tarmac. I love it. I really love it. I live and breathe and dream about it. I could bore you to death about Tarmac.'

Just the thought that contractors might finally be on their way caused a flurry of excitement for the Whitehall residents. 'Bless your cotton socks!' messages Bill Wilson, 90, who is married to Sheila, describes himself as 'her toyboy' and sends me a link to some uplifting Mozart in celebration.

Later, he tells me about poor Sally, the visiting friend, who tripped and fell in the dark, bashed her head and ended up in Taunton hospital with a bleed on the brain.

'We saw her before they took her to hospital, and she was like a zombie!' he says.

'Thank God!' says Brian Pankhurst, 79, who lives in Mineral Cottage with his partner Phillip Sealey, 94, and their two Crufts-winning standard Dachshunds. 'Thank you, thank you, thank you!' says

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