A Cotswold cyclist who ended up in hospital after hitting a pothole is warning others to be on their guard, and imploring the council to fix it.

James Headspeath was returning home to Poulton along the A417 following a morning's ride when the incident occurred.

"I suddenly felt the bike shake violently and the next thing I knew I landed like a thud on the tarmac of a busy road," he said.

"I wasn't aware of hitting the pothole, but it was a dry sunny day so there's no reason I'd have toppled over other than the pothole which I must have clipped at roughly 20mph."

James, who was taken to Cirencester Hospital by ambulance, was told by those first on the scene that another cyclist had crashed in exactly the same spot a week earlier.

"Thankfully I had no breaks," he said.

"Initially, the paramedics thought I might have a broken shoulder. So thankfully I am very lucky to escape with bad cuts, stiffness, and bruises.

"I can't imagine it will be long before someone else hits it and falls off.

"The danger is I could quite easily have swerved onto the other side of the road into oncoming traffic.

"My biggest annoyance is the council's reluctance to fix the pothole."

A number of reports have been made on the Report It section of the Gloucestershire County Council website.

Richard Gray, the council's local highways manager, said: “I would like to thank residents for raising the issues on the A417 near Poulton to us, we have visited the area to inspect these issues and make repairs to potholes, with further repairs to be made as a matter of urgency.

“In the next few weeks, we are due to undertake large scale patching and improvement works on this section of the road as part of the county council’s £150 million investment into Gloucestershire’s roads.

“I would like to thank residents that have reported issues in this area, and encourage anyone who spots a pothole to use our Report It service at gloucestershire.gov.uk/highways/roads/your-highways-report-it.”

A spokesperson for South Western Ambulance Service said: "South Western Ambulance received a call at 2.05pm on November 13 to a report of a man falling off a bicycle on London Road, Poulton.

"An ambulance was allocated and the patient conveyed to Cirencester Hospital."