Council pays out just 12 pothole claims in 2024

Surrey County Council is only liable to pay for damage to vehicles if it can be proved it has been negligent in the inspection and maintenance of its roads

Only 12 out of 1,204 claims for pothole damage this year up to May have been repaid by Surrey County Council (SCC), totalling £4,435.15.

The authority has received 5,619 compensation claims from Surrey residents due to damage caused by potholes since May 2021, according to the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS).

Since the last local election three years ago, only 581 claims were successful (just over 10%) totalling £190,000.

As the local highways authority, SCC is only liable to pay for damage to vehicles if it can be proved it has been negligent in the inspection and maintenance of its roads.

Councillor George Potter said: “Rather than 90% of the claims being fraudulent, it is more likely that only 10% of people are determined enough to see through a difficult process to the end.”

He said it was a "very difficult, time consuming and bureaucratic” process which would “discourage many people from going all the way through with their claims.”

The council has budgeted to spend £5m of its annual budget on repairing potholes and other road safety defects

Residents can apply for compensation if they suffer personal injury or property damage due to council-owned roads.

For a claim to be successful, a list of information such as the details of damage and two independent estimates for repair, exact location, proof of ownership and current MOT and insurance, date and weather conditions must be provided.

SCC's cabinet member for finance and resources, David Lewis, said he did not believe the claims were “fraudulent” but that the criteria was not met.

He said: “We have a duty to protect our finances and money raised from residents.

“We simply can’t have a process where every claim put in is paid out. The system we currently have is fair.”

He said there were no plans to review the criteria or the process of compensating pothole claims.

The council has budgeted to spend £5m of its annual budget on repairing approximately 50,000 potholes and other road safety defects.