March 28, 2018 2.19 pm This story is over 72 months old

Potty over potholes? Lincolnshire family create fun app inspired by county roads

“We were inspired when playing the real-life version on the school run”

Some find the crumbling roads across Lincolnshire a source of frustration and worry. Others have felt compelled to respond to the situation creatively, reaching for cameras, computers and even cans of spray paint.

For local self-taught web developer Karl Humphries, 37, inspiration struck on a usual bumpy school run between Billinghay and Ruskington, south of Lincoln.

Fed up of swerving in an out of ever-multiplying potholes, Karl, alongside wife Emma, began to joke about creating a game version of their daily commute.

Karl with his wife Emma and son Ethan.

Between the couple and their aspiring developer son Ethan, initial hilarity turned into serious gameplay construction, with realistic pothole speckled roads and a dodging car with a tyre pressure lifeline.

They even considered donating money raised to the county council if the game goes viral.

Before long, Lincolnshire Roads for iOS was ready to buy (79p) and gaining popularity in the app store under Karl’s company Blue Glow Web Ltd.

Karl told The Lincolnite: “The roads we drive on everyday in Lincolnshire are just in a terrible state at the moment. I honestly think that in 20 years of driving, this is the worst I’ve ever seen them.

“It really is almost a case of every road I drive on has at least one bad pot hole.

“For example, here is a terrible one that we have to contend with on the school run between Billinghay and Ruskington”, he said.

“We setup Blue Glow Web Ltd in February 2013. Until recent months we have mainly offered bespoke websites for customers who need something a little more than your average website can offer. However our eldest son, Ethan, started an apprenticeship with us after leaving school in 2016, with a view to him being our lead app developer.”

“Just a bit of fun”

“This app was inspired by an idea my wife, Emma, had when we were on the school run just over a week ago, and between the three of us we came up with the gameplay ideas, the graphics, sounds and the app itself. It’s a real family project.

“We intend it to be light hearted and just a bit of fun, but I still wouldn’t rule out chipping in to fix our local roads if it made a lot of money!

“The app was released at around 5pm on the March 27. It has already achieved the position of 84 in the top 100 paid iPhone games!

“We are overwhelmed by the response so far from the people of Lincolnshire and are very grateful for their support. This has resulted in requests to add extra cars to unlock and other similar features, which we will work on if the demand continues.”

Karl and his family aren’t the one ones in the Lincoln area having a bit of fun with potholes:

Residents get creative with reporting potholes — and it worked!