Cape Breton tow and tire companies profiting from potholes

It's a busy time for people in the towing and tire business in Cape Breton County.

Corey Payne is a driver and manager with Kevin's Towing in Sydney. He says they're getting at least 12 to 15 calls a day, while tire shops are seeing at least one person a day with a blown tire.​

Payne said this year has been worse than most for accidents.

"There's days I'm giving ETAs (estimated times of arrivals) of two and three hours, and I'm spending all day trying to get caught up on calls," he said.

Payne says the two main causes for the accidents are inattention and potholes.

He saw a monster pothole up close just a few nights ago.

"It had to be three-feet deep. A vehicle hit it, she took out two of her rims, tires and she even tore her muffler and everything off her car. That's how bad she hit it," said Payne.

$5K worth of damages

Another time Payne had to tow a new car after it struck a pothole.

"Brand new Ford, it was two days old down on Charlotte Street. It was $5,000 worth of damages just on tires and rims because it had 20-inch rims... and Pirelli tires," he said.

Workers at Direct Tire in Sydney have been seeing a lot of people with similar problems.

"A lot of them are winter tires, so this time of year, it's really hard getting them in, so usually they're forced to put on their all seasons right now and wait until the fall or wait a few days to get a tire in from Ontario," said employee Jason Lahey.

Neither man expects their work load to lessen until more road work gets done.