South East councils pay out £535,000 in pothole compensation

The average payout for compensation from pothole damage is £281

Three councils in the South East have paid out a total of £535,000 in pothole compensation during the current financial year.

Surrey County Council paid out £452,000 - an increase of £164,000 on the previous year.

West Sussex County Council paid out £74,000 in compensation, while Kent County Council paid £9,000.

The Department for Transport said it was investing an extra £8.3bn into resurfacing roads.

East Sussex County Council did not provide data for the current financial year.

The leader of Surrey County Council, Tim Oliver, said: "We have some of the country's busiest roads and this naturally takes its toll but we're working hard to improve them. This is reflected in our investment, with nearly £300m allocated to repairing and improving Surrey's roads and pavements."

The RAC's head of policy, Simon Williams, said roads were in a "far worse state than they have been for many, many years."

"We hope the extra money, diverted away from HS2, can be put into resurfacing roads but it's a question of the lack of funding over previous years that has put us into this position now."

Zac Ellis, who is a tyre fitter at East Grinstead Tyre Service, said that he saw "easily 5, 6, 7 customers a day coming in with pothole damage. It is a pretty constant problem."