Pothole payouts double but councils reject ‘most’ claims

Compensation paid by councils to motorists suffering pothole damage to their cars surpassed £1 million last year, new research suggests.

That’s despite the AA dealing with 631,852 pothole related incidents in 2023, which it estimated cost drivers £474 million, and Kwik Fit suggesting the total repair bill was £1.48 billion. 

A Freedom of Information (FOI) request, submitted by The Green Insurer and answered by 50 councils across the UK, showed that 6,243 motorists received compensation for damage to their car caused by potholes or poor road conditions – an 82% rise on the previous year and more than double the 3,043 payouts in 2019.

However, almost two-thirds (65%) of claims last year were rejected with 11,413 claims turned down.

Councils who responded to the FOI said that they were notified of nearly 300,000 potholes last year and they spent £52.45m repairing them.

It also found that one in 20 (5%) of adults say they have tried to fill in potholes themselves or with neighbours.

Paul Baxter, CEO of The Green Insurer, said: “Potholes and badly maintained roads are a major issue for everyone with drivers regularly suffering damage to cars and needing to find the money to pay for repairs.

“Our FOI shows the extent of the problem with councils receiving around 300,000 reports of potholes every year and spending up to £52.45 million on repairs. Our research even shows people are trying to fill in potholes themselves.”

Labour has pledged to fix one million potholes every year if elected on July 4 and turn the tide on the “neglect” of the UK’s roads.

However, with the Conservatives having already announced £8.3bn to fill potholes and resurface roads, funded by cancelling the second phase of HS2, Labour’s promise only earmarks an additional £320m to carry out repairs by delaying the A27 bypass.

The £8.3bn was expected to resurface more than 5,000 miles of road across the country over the next 11 years.

The Asphalt Industry Alliance (AIA) has previously reported that, while half (51%) of local roads are in good structural condition, the remainder - more than 100,000 miles - could continue to deteriorate to the point of needing to be rebuilt within the next 15 years, without appropriate maintenance measures.

The Liberal Democrats, meanwhile, has pledged to spend £300m over the next Parliament to fill 1.2 million potholes a year.

RAC head of policy, Simon Williams, said: “While we agree with the premise of guaranteeing councils more road funding, the real question is whether the Lib Dems – and indeed the Labour party – would ensure the £8.3bn of funding the Conservatives had reallocated from HS2 to fix local roads is still given to local authorities should they win power.

“Without this sum, which itself is only enough to resurface 3% of all England’s council-run roads, the Lib Dems’ promised £300m won’t even scratch the surface of the UK’s pothole problem. 

“It’s also nowhere near enough just to fill in potholes in the worst affected areas.

“We need the next Government to get to the root of the issue by committing councils to carrying out more vital preventative surface dressing work as well as resurfacing the poorest quality roads, which they can only do if they have long-term certainty of cash flow.

“One solution is ringfencing a small proportion of funds raised from fuel duty to help authorities finally bring the roads back to a fit-for-purpose state.”