Can you dig it? Britain’s £3m pothole compo crisis

Potholes are a massive difficulty for motorists and nearby authorities alike.

Not only do they price motorists and councils millions of pounds in repair bills, the RAC Foundation says councils paid out a lot more than £3 million in compensation in the last monetary year.

Claims up, payments down

A total of 48,664 claims for pothole harm were produced in 2013/14, which is an improve of 2,525 on the number of claims made in 2012/13.

And despite the fact that just below a quarter (23%) of claims have been actually upheld, this nevertheless came at a price of £3.2 million to regional authorities.

Even so, although the number of claims improved, the quantity paid out by neighborhood councils actually fell by £1million as the average pay-out for pothole damage dropped from £357 in 2012/13 to £286 in 2013/14.

The typical admin price for a claim, whether successful or not, also dropped from £150 to £147.

Here’s how the figures for 2013/14 break down (2012/13 figures are in brackets)

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It’s unlikely that claim rates reflect the true scale of the difficulty as numerous motorists will be reluctant to make a claim due to the laborious claims process and the comparatively low good results rates.

Some may possibly not even be aware they can claim against their nearby authority. And some issues caused by potholes – either in one go or gradually more than a series of incidents – might be interpreted as standard wear-and-tear or routine structural harm.

Professor Stephen Glaister, director of the RAC Foundation, said: “These figures are probably to be the tip of the iceberg. Many drivers will be put off by the time involved in claiming against a council, and several councils do their very best to deter claimants coming forward.

“But the fundamental difficulty lies not at the doors of our town halls but with central government. In spite of occasional 1-off grants associated to periods of harsh climate, they are just not providing councils adequate funds to hold their road ne2rks up to scratch.”

He added: “In England, local authorities themselves estimate the upkeep backlog to be about £12 billion yet more than the past 5 years spending on roads in genuine terms has dropped 22% across England and Wales.

“Worn-out road surfaces do not basically result in damage to cars they are also potentially lethal, specifically for 2-wheeled road users.”

How to report a pothole

While we can not do anything to reduce the amount of red tape involved in generating a claim for pothole harm, we have teamed up with Street Repairs to make the process of reporting a pothole a lot easier.

Simply fill in the form under and your local authority will be in a position to add the pothole to its list.

And with the pothole reported, you can then go about generating a claim, so make confident you read How to make a claim for pothole damage.

Can you dig it? Britain’s £3m pothole compo crisis