HJ said:
The only time I have tried it, it took 18 months for action to be taken...
I came upon an extremely dangerous hole on the fast descent from Blackstone Edge to Littleborough (near Rochdale) a few years back. It was on the 'racing line' and the slope of the road meant that you didn't see it until you were nearly upon it. When I first encountered the hole I managed to bunnyhop it at the last possible moment. I kept meaning to report the hole but never got round to it and it remained unfilled for over a year but then a friend of mine hit it when out on his MTB. Fortunately he had very chunky tyres and plush suspension and he just managed to keep control of his bike. It would be a different story on a racing bike with 23C tyres...
I reported the hole to a site mentioned in Cycling Weekly and forwarded a copy of the report to the Highways department at Rochdale council. I told them that this was notice that there was an extreme hazard on the road, and that they should fill it immediately. If I heard of any accident caused by the unfilled hole, I would make it my business to ensure that the local media and family of any victim were informed that the council had been made aware of the problem and had failed to act. I then sat back and waited for a response...
Someone from the council emailed me back within an hour! Later that day I was forwarded another email by someone else in the Highways department. It contained the full history of the emails being passed around the department on the subject. It was quite funny really. It started off as "Fred - take a look at this", then 'Fred' passed it on to 'Mick' - "Mick - this is urgent - look into it!"... eventually 'Dave' sent a message to 'Ian' "Ian - for Christ's sake, drop what you are doing and get out and fill this bloody hole before someone gets hurt!"
The next day, I received an email from 'Ian' telling me that he'd just filled a pothole on the descent from Blackstone Edge. He attached a photograph of his repair and gave me a grid reference for it. Could I kindly confirm that he'd filled the 'right' hole and if not, where was it because he'd go and fill that one too.
Result! 