A MAIN road into Kendal has been blasted as so bad it is like driving in a Third World country.

Residents of Grayrigg, on the A685 between Kendal and Tebay, have complained that the road through their community is badly maintained and used by too many heavy lorries.

Philip Barry, 59, a former Lancashire County Council officer, said: "It's incredible. It's like a Third World country, full of massive big holes and it's getting worse and worse and worse.

He said the road should be well maintained as it was very busy and provided a link to the M6 at Tebay but, he added: "It's full of craters and potholes. The whole surface is crumbling."

Wear and tear on the roads is most extreme over winter, when frost and rain weaken the surface and heavy traffic begins to loosen it.

Mr Barry said that sections of the road were replaced last spring and were very smooth but the repairs did not extend far enough, adding: "We're paying more and more in taxes to get less and less."

Mr Barry's feelings were shared by clerk to the parish meeting, Dagmar Johnson. She said she had written to Cumbria County Council almost every year about the problem.

"The road is in a serious state of disrepair. It's actually dangerous for people who use motorcycles."

She said there had been complaints about cars' suspension and tyres being damaged.

Mrs Johnson said heavy traffic was breaking up the grass verges as lorries that were too big for the road struggled to pass each other.

She said she would be continuing to press for improvements on the main road to and from the community.

Jim Smith, CCC's area engineer for Carlisle and Eden, said surveyors checked which areas needed to be repaired most urgently and the engineers tackled those first, rather than relaying an entire stretch of road.

CCC spokesman Dennis Inch said two areas between Grayrigg and Kendal would be repaired this year, costing £320,000: a 560-metre section at Ghyll Bank and a 2,855-metre section near Docker.

He said: "Hopefully, there should be a marked improvement apparent between Grayrigg and Kendal when those schemes are finished."