Potholes force cars off Calder Freeway as Victorian road anger rises

More drivers have been left stranded after their vehicles were damaged by a pothole on a major Victorian freeway this morning. Macedon Ranges resident John told ABC Central Victoria, at least seven cars with damaged tyres were lined up on the side of the Calder Freeway between Gisborne and Sunbury about 6.30am. He said another three were pulled over on the off-ramp. "There were people changing tyres on the side of the road; one young lady was in tears because she didn't know what to do," he said. "The same pothole was fixed one week ago. Clearly they're not fixing them adequately." He lanes have been closed due to road damage on the freeway between Kyneton and Sunbury for two weeks. "They're just filling gaps, they're not actually going to the cause of the problem," he said. "We just keep blaming the weather without proper remediation." A spokesperson from the Department of Transport couldn't confirm how many vehicles had been affected. The right lane of the freeway remains closed city-bound near Mundy Road, with patching works under way. Elsewhere in central Victoria, Johnny Ravet from Seymour Tyre and Mechanical told ABC Statewide Mornings there were six cars in his workshop all with pothole damage. "Just last week we had one, an Audi, travelling to Nagambie, hit a pothole and no spare tyre so it was towed in," he said. "That rim [cost] $4000 before we even put a tyre on it." This morning's traffic hazard on the Calder Freeway follows a similar problem on the Princes Freeway at Bunyip, east of Melbourne yesterday where about 30 cars suffered tyre damage by hitting a pothole that was hard to see in the rain.