There is a massive pothole outside KFC at the Westgate, Auckland. Video / Chris Keall
In a time of bad potholes, it was one of the worst.
For months, West Aucklanders looking for a fried chicken fix from KFC Massey have had to bob through a crater - or swerve around it at the risk of facing traffic headed in the other direction, some comingfrom a busy adjacent block that includes Burger Fuel, Subway and Hell Pizza outlets.
The Herald took a video of the super-sized pothole around 10am Friday, then asked KFC’s NZ operator, Restaurant Brands, for comment.
The offending pothole, on land leased by KFC operator Restaurant Brands. Photo / NZ Herald
Just a couple of hours later, Restaurant Brands replied, through a PR rep: “The pothole has been fixed.”
On a community Facebook page, reviews of the repairer’s work were not kind.
“Not even a 5-year-old [would] just fill it out with shingle and a modicum of bitumen as they have done. Do it properly and do it once,” one resident posted.
Another suggested the site could be still used for fake moon landing clips.
A previous repair effort, using the same technique, saw the shingle dispersed over time.
The Herald asked if there were any plans to seal the latest repair with asphalt.
Restaurant Brands replied: “We are leasing the site. We’re working with our landlord on a more permanent solution, going forward.”
According to CoreLogic, the 2775-square metre site that houses KFC Massey, and the ring road around it, is owned by Mt Eden-based property investor Hsu-Cheng Yang, who has leased it to Restaurant Brands since 2002. Yang could not be immediately reached for comment.
A pothole on Fred Taylor Drive, approaching the KFC. Waka Kotahi New Zealand Transport Agency has fielded around 2200 vehicle damage complaints over the past three years - and paid out on just 22.
Although the KFC pothole has been repaired, to a fashion, locals wanting to keep on their toes still have plenty to swerve around on the public roads approaching it, including the above long-standing nearby crater on Fred Taylor Drive, opposite Westgate Pak’nSave.
The Herald recently reported that Waka Kotahi New Zealand Transport Agency had received some 2200 claims for vehicle damage from potholes and defects in state highways over the past three years - but paid out on just 22.
Pothole damage compensation claims received by Waka Kotahi between 2020 and June 30, 2023.
Labour hit back, saying National created the current problems after it froze maintenance funding when it was in office.
Transport Minister David Parker added National needed to explain how they would fill the “giant pothole they’re creating in the transport budget”, with the numbers to pay for the scheme not adding up, and also involving scrapping road safety programmes that include funding over 1000 road police.
