Bath's pothole flower filler warned to stop

The perennial protester said he wanted to "put a smile on faces"

A green-fingered protester has been warned by council officials to stop filling potholes with flowers.

Jason Dorley-Brown said he wanted to "put a smile on faces" by using flower power to highlight the "serious problem" of the holes across Bath.

But officers say he has shown a fragrant disregard for the rules, saying his attempts to help "do not meet the required standards".

Mr Dorley-Brown said he was "very careful" about which roads he chose.

However, Bath and North East Somerset Council said "the actions of this resident do not meet the required standards" and warned the perennial protester he could be liable if anyone was injured or their vehicles damaged.

Mr Dorley-Brown said he and his fellow "guerrilla gardeners" filled up potholes in the area about every 10 days.

"We're very careful to make sure when we fill in a pothole," he said.

"It's not on a blind corner, it's not on a corner where there's overtaking, it's not on a narrow road.

Jason Dorley-Brown said he started filling in potholes about a month ago

"We sort of want them to be distracting to a certain extent but people can drive over them. We're not fixing potholes here - what we're doing is filling potholes to raise awareness."

Mr Dorley-Brown, who said he was a keen cyclist himself, said the council had not yet been in direct contact with him.

The floral fan added his campaign was not "an anti-council thing" adding, "let's get the roads back to a better state".

A council spokesman said they took "the issue of potholes very seriously" and said 4,441 had been repaired in 2016 - an increase on the 3,617 repaired in 2015.

Bath and North East Somerset Council has been awarded £272,000 from the government's £70m Pothole Action Fund for 2017-18.