Pothole payouts to drivers cost councils £20m

Local authorities paid out more than £20m in compensation last year to drivers whose vehicles were damaged by potholes, according to research.

By The Newsroom

Published 19th Jan 2013, 06:00 BST

Which? said councils in England and Wales paid a total of £22.8m to road users for pothole damage, with authorities in the north west of England paying out the most at £8m, according to figures from the Asphalt Industry Association.

The Government commissioned a Potholes Review in 2011 and allocated an extra £200m for local highway authorities, citing a “significant increase in the number of potholes on the already fragile local highway network”.

But Which? found that the backlog of road repairs per local authority in England is getting bigger, growing from £53.2m in 2009 to £61.3m last year. Local authorities have estimated that it would cost £12.93bn to clear the entire road maintenance backlog in the UK.

Which? executive director Richard Lloyd said: “Potholes are a menace for all road users.”