A POOLE resident who travels to work by bike says he’s fed up of having to plough through a flooded underpass whenever there’s heavy rain.

Paul Whitmarsh, 51, from Parkstone uses the underpass at Alderney Roundabout each morning to get to work on Ringwood Road. He uses an alternative route on the way home.

He said: “I use it every day and I’ve been going that way for 10 years.

“Day to day if it’s not been raining it’s fine but as soon as we’ve had a substantial amount of rain it floods.”

On Thursday morning, Mr Whitmarsh said the water was up to around eight inches deep in the underpass following a spell of particularly heavy rain.

He said at times of flooding, it “forces cyclists to go up to the roundabout and chance their luck at having to cross the road” which he had to do twice previously.

Mr Whitmarsh said: “It’s kind of on a camber. Probably the shallower side is about 10 centimetres.

“I have to kind of half-pedal to go through it. It would definitely cover your feet.”

He said: “There’s no way a pedestrian could go through it.

“Quite a few schoolchildren use it as there are bus stops nearby and you see mums with schoolchildren going through it.”

He said previously he had seen workers in the underpass who have attempted to resolve the issue, but it remains an ongoing problem.

“They have done remedial work but it’s never fixed. They spend about a week looking at it before going away again but it’s half-hearted.

“Everyone is encouraging people to walk or cycle to work and you’re having to face that. It’s not on,” he added.

The Daily Echo contacted Borough of Poole for a comment but they had not responded at the time of going to press.