POTHOLE problems in Hampstead Garden Suburb have caused one Barnet councillor to lose his sense of humour after a resident told him he had named one after him.

Resident Dr Saul Zadka, who lives in Holyoake Way, was so fed up that a pothole on his street had been left unfixed for 10 months that he decided to name it after local councillor Daniel Seal.

He felt the Conservative councillor had turned his back on voters since being elected in May after he arranged to meet him to discuss the potholes but later backed out.

In August Dr Zadka emailed Cllr Seal and asked him to help.

Cllr Seal responded and suggested meeting up for a coffee to see what he could do. Dr Zadka responded with a date and he responded saying he could do the following Sunday.

But almost a month later Dr Zadka was still waiting for his call. He emailed again and Cllr Seal suggested he should come to a constituency surgery to discuss matters.

Dr Zadka replied: “You promised to come over. HGS is in a mess. I have already named one pothole after you…”

Cllr Seal was not amused. He replied: “I don’t appreciate comments such as ‘named a pothole after you.’

“There are over 10,000 constituents in HGS and the best way of me meeting as many as possible is to visit our monthly surgeries. I look forward to meeting you then.”

Dr Zadka is furious the councillor went back on his word and his own suggestion of meeting in person.

“The roads and pavements are always really terrible here,” he said. “I approached him about the problems because he approached me during the election campaign and asked me to vote for him.

“He promised to come over for a chat and I would take him for a walk to see the problems but he backed down on his promise and did not come.

“I was angry so I emailed him and said I have named a pothole after him but he did not like that.

“He did not have a sense of humour about it. It is all very silly and I won’t be voting for him again because it seems he cannot deliver on the simplest thing, which in this case was just to come over and see what is going on.

“There are potholes on the roads and pavements which have not been repaired for 10 months and there are lots on the way to my son’s school, Brookland – kids are going over all the time and no-one does anything about it.

“The way to school is like an obstacle course – it is terrible because it is all so crooked. It has been really bad since the bad winter last year.”

Cllr Seal has however defended his actions and said he did not meet with Dr Zadka because he was rude to him. He said: “We have now fixed the pothole and the reason I did not have coffee with him is because he was very rude to me.

“I am greatly honoured to be a councillor and will do the best of my ability to fulfil my duties. I do not feel I have to have coffee with someone who is rude to me and this has nothing to do with the pothole.”