2,500 potholes reported each day

A striking new animation has been produced to highlight the true depth of the UK’s pothole problem.

More than 905,000 potholes were reported to local authorities in 2017/18, which is nearly 2,500 per day. This is according to a Freedom of Information request by Confused.com.

It also found that more than a third (34%) reported car damage caused by poor roads. Most of the damage reported was to the vehicle’s tyres (53%), while more than a quarter (26%) said hitting the pothole caused damaged to their suspension, which can be quite costly to fix. This could explain why local authorities have had to fork out more than £2.8m to compensate victims of pothole damage in one year. This figure might have been substantially higher if the number of motorists actually claiming compensation was more than one fifth.

However, this is not the only expense which has costed councils. In fact, they spent almost £193m in the same year repairing more than one million potholes or road surfaces, which equates to £169 per pothole, on average.

But for some motorists this figure is not enough. In fact, more than a third (37%) of UK motorists are confused why councils are not spending more to repair roads, given the amount of money they receive in fines. Although, in the last Autumn Budget, an additional £420m was given to councils in England to tackle potholes, but only two thirds (66%) of motorists think this is a good use of public money.

To appreciate the scale of UK’s potholes, confused.com has produced a new scrolling animation showing the true depth of the issue.

Amanda Stretton, motoring editor at Confused.com, said, ‘Our scrolling animation shows just how deep the UK’s pothole problem goes – a problem that has caused councils to pay out almost £3m in compensation for pothole damage to vehicles in the last year alone.

‘The number of potholes reported in the UK has increased by two per cent in the last year, and it’s a battle councils continue to fight. If motorists come across a pothole they should report it to their local authority before it gets any worse.’