Cheeky local takes matters into own hands and fills potholes with rubber ducks

19 March 2024 , 08:42

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Rubber ducks have been left inside potholes in Glasgow (Image: Alison McAdam)

More than two dozen rubber ducks have been spotted nesting in "disgraceful" potholes across roads in Glasgow.

The quirky sight included 25 ducks of various sizes and colours, propped into the gaping holes that are causing problems on the city's streets. Alison McAdam, an admin member of the Facebook group Potholes Make Glasgow decided to place the rubber ducks around the city to draw attention to the poor state of its roads.

If members found a duck, they would be given car stickers which were used during the group's protest at Glasgow City Chambers on Saturday, February 24. However, only four ducks were discovered, with the rest vanishing.

Rubber ducks nesting in the potholes. (Alison McAdam)

Speaking to GlasgowLive, Alison said: "I gave all the ducks a unique ID and if a member found a duck they contacted me and got a free sticker. We also hoped it would highlight the disgraceful state of the roads and generate lots of "reported" potholes on the Glasgow City Council database.

"Only four of the ducks I put out were found, the other 21 disappeared and were probably found by people who were not one of the members of the group. It's been funny since then because every time someone sees a rubber duck in a pothole they think it was me, but other people have been doing this for ages just to warn road users there is a potential pothole in the puddle they are about to drive their car through."

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Potholes are a big worry for drivers in the city and we've reported on close calls where drivers nearly got hurt after hitting one. In one case, a mum with her kids in the car crashed into railings after hitting a pothole.

A freedom of information request also showed the shocking number of road defects - 185 to be exact - the council has been asked to fix on Nitshill Road in the south of the city. A spokesperson for Glasgow City Council said: "Potholes can appear suddenly and at any time due to factors such as frost, rain and the impact of traffic on the road surface. Winter is the time of year when we usually see a rise in pothole reports and we have also been working our way through reports received."

Glasgow was named the pothole capital of Britain in January, with one pothole for every 86th Glaswegian in the city, according to members of the public reporting issues on FixMyStreet.com. Smart Survey's data analysis reveals since 2007, there have been 9,780 reports. However, as of January 12 this year, only 2,372 have been marked as 'fixed' on the site. This equates to 11.7 unresolved issues for every 1,000 residents.

Fahad Tariq