Pothole compensation claims rise in South East

Claims for damage caused by potholes have increased in Kent and Surrey

Councils in the South East have seen a rise in pothole compensation claims, with payments made averaging £260 each.

Research shows Surrey County Council saw the biggest increase out of those asked, with 3,418 claims in 2023, compared to 734 in 2022.

The figures, obtained by Freedom of Information requests submitted by breakdown provider RAC, show there were 655 requests to Kent County Council in 2022, compared to 1,884 in 2023.

A Surrey County Council spokesperson said it was working "incredibly hard" to improve the roads and had allocated £300m to tackle roads and pavements over the next five years, and Kent County Council said it invested more than £50m each year in the road network.

RAC research asked 18 local authorities with the largest road networks for information on pothole compensation.

They found that 15% of claims made last year resulted in payouts, with the highest proportion of refusals among those asked at 98% by Gloucestershire County Council.

While payments averaged £260 each, the RAC believes a typical repair bill for pothole damage beyond a puncture is £460.

RAC head of policy Simon Williams called the findings "a stark reminder" of the poor condition of many local roads "burning holes in the budgets of both local authorities and drivers".

£16.3bn backlog of repairs

He added: "We strongly urge drivers to inform councils about any potholes they are aware of, either via the RAC’s website or using the free Stan app which collects data on the state of UK roads."

Chancellor Rachel Reeves announced in her Budget last month plans to fund work to fix an additional one million potholes in the 2024-25 financial year by increasing funding in England by £500m to nearly £1.6bn.

Adam Hug, transport spokesman for the Local Government Association, said there was an estimated £16.3bn backlog of repairs to get the country's local roads "up to scratch".

He added: "Instead of paying for costly compensation claims, councils much prefer to use their budgets to keep our roads in a good condition, in turn reducing the risk of damage to vehicles and personal injuries."

Matt Furniss, cabinet member for highways, transport and economic growth at Surrey County Council, said, “We’re fixing more potholes than previous years with over 32,200 potholes fixed by our highways teams from April – September 2024 alone. We’re now fixing them quicker too - taking on average just three days to complete repairs, compared to seven days in 2023."

Neil Baker, Kent County Council's cabinet member for highways and transport, said the RAC data reinforced that potholes were a national issue, not only affecting Kent.

Despite the money invested Kent's roads and the "relentless work" done to maintain and repair them, he said the number of defects reported was "exceptionally high" and that the maintenance backlog in Kent was more than £1bn.

He added: "We continue to raise the need for a dramatic increase in highway funding over a long period, as this would mean we would instead be talking about the long term benefit of resurfacing and rebuilding roads, with a fully funded programme laid out over decades, rather than the annual number of individual potholes to fix."