Notre-Dame Street East potholes cause tire to explode

A Montreal driver says he's lucky to be alive after potholes in the city's east end caused his tire to explode.

Marouane Abid said he was driving his brand new Mercedes west on Notre-Dame Street East near d'Orléans Avenue Thursday when he struck a network of potholes and blew out a tire.

A mechanic later told Abid that he'd never seen anything like it.

"He said it wasn't possible and I was lucky to be alive," Abid said. "If I had been driving faster, I could have lost control."

Abid called the city's 3-1-1 information line to report the problem and was transferred to Quebec's Ministry of Public Works.

"I gave them the location of the hole and they said I could make a claim for the damage, but they also told me there's a provincial law that means I can't sue the city," he said.

Abid said that wasn't his intention because he thought the blame lay with Mercedes. Then he returned to take photos of the holes the next day and saw parts from other cars.

"This is the city's problem. There's debris all over the place. There are hubcaps from at least three other cars," he said.

Abid drove past the same stretch of road Saturday and said the holes were still there.

He doesn't plan on pursuing the city for the $700 in damage that he estimates it cost to fix his tire. Mercedes picked up most of the tab.

He's just thankful his three-week old son wasn't in the car with him when the blowout occurred.

"I'm very lucky. The city needs to fix this. This is ridiculous. For a country like Canada, it's a shame."