A “CRATER” of a pothole has caused thousands of pounds worth of damage to a succession of cars.

Wrecked vehicles lined the side of the street after falling victim to the gaping hole on Lane Head Road in Shepley.

The cavity, about 1ft across and 1ft deep, had been reported to Kirklees Council and even the police, a day earlier, because of the havoc it had been causing.

Council highways workers repaired the hole on Wednesday afternoon.

But drivers are demanding compensation for the cost of repairs to their cars.

Josh Lees, a motor vehicle technician who has worked for Huddersfield recovery company John Shaw for 14 years, was dispatched to deal with three incidents that happened within minutes of one another.

He said: “I’ve never known one pothole damage so many cars in one go.

“It was impossible for them to go around the hole because it was smack bang in the middle of the lane and there are barriers in the middle of the road.

“There were about five or six cars that I wasn’t attending to that were parked up because they had been damaged and numerous cars that were coming down the road with flat tyres.”

Sandra Dickinson, 53, of Sheffield, was on her way to visit her daughter Nicola in Lepton when her Fiat Punto hit the hole.

“You couldn’t miss it,” she said.

“I went over it and my tyre went bang.”