WITH the number of potholes plaguing Britain's roads nearing record levels Citroen is doing its bit to combat the problem.
The French car maker and its brand ambassador - former England rugby player Austin Healey - teamed up with Surrey County Council to spend a day filling in the holes.
Citroen has been working with Nu-Phalt Contracting using its Jetpatcher process to provide residents in the county with smoother roads and during the exercise managed to fill in 200 potholes - marking each repair with a ‘Love from Citroen' stencil.
Souad Wrixen, Citroen UK's marketing director, said: "It's no secret that the state of British roads is getting worse, and potholes cause problems for us all, whether you're a driver, cyclist, pedestrian or resident in an affected area.
"As a brand we are dedicated to helping customers experience the perfect ride with our vehicles, so it's a pleasure to work with Surrey County Council to make the roads smoother and provide a glimpse to all motorists of what it is like to a drive a Citroën every day."
According to Citroen, drivers are two-and-a-half times more likely to suffer pothole damage than they were in the past and in a twelve-month period during 2017/18, more than 905,000 potholes were reported on UK roads.
Overall, around 20 per cent of the road network in England and Wales is in poor condition, and up to 41,575 miles of road across the UK could have less than five years of life with the highest concentration of potholes in the UK being in the south east.
Citroen prides itself on vehicle comfort and its latest C5 Aircross and C4 Cactus models are the first to be fitted with its Advanced Comfort system which uses progressive hydraulic cushions in the suspension to iron out bumps.
Austin Healey said: "Since getting behind the wheel of New C5 Aircross SUV, I totally get the benefits of a car with Progressive Hydraulic Cushions suspension. The way it filters out any imperfections in the road is incredible. So nothing gives me greater pleasure than getting stuck in and sharing this experience with the residents of Surrey."
Surrey County Council announced last year it was pumping in an extra £20 million to improve roads over a two year programme and to date more than 270 roads have been improved.