Windscreens damaged by poor state of A272

Mrs Law, who lives in Tillington, said she had claimed for compensation from West Sussex County Council, so far without success and her main priority now was to get the road improved.

“There are three bits of dual carriageway on the road to Midhurst and since the road was resurfaced last year, in all the hatchings in these three bits of road there are masses of little stones.

“Every time I go over the areas the kids and I hunch up in the car waiting for the stones to pelt the windscreen – it’s a daily risk.”

She said the first incident resulted in a chipped windscreen to her 4x4 Toyota which she had to have repaired.

The second incident was more serious and the stones actually caused a crack in the glass which meant Mrs Law had to have the whole windscreen replaced.

“I borrowed a car from the garage while mine was being repaired and it happened again, this time chipping the windscreen of the borrowed car.”

My main priority now is to get the road swept up because I can’t afford to go on paying for repairs and it is very unlikely the county council will pay out.”

She said she wondered if other motorists were having the same problem on the stretch of road.

“Please, please report any incidents to the county council,” she urged motorists.

“We must get these stones cleared up before there is a serious accident.”

West Sussex County Council’s top highways officer Steve Johnson has already warned that mending potholes and keeping on top of road maintenance is likely to be one of his biggest headaches this year. At a meeting of the county council’s North Chichester County Local Committee last month he told representatives from the parishes there was a huge backlog of road work waiting to be repaired because of the recent freezing conditions.