Potholes cause 'worst' damage to cars on M5 stretch

The AA say potholes along a stretch of the M5 are bad

Potholes on several stretches of motorway have been causing "the worst" damage to cars over the past 18 months, the AA claims.

The M5 northbound, between Taunton and Weston-super-Mare, and the M49 by the Amazon distribution centre have been particularly badly affected.

Vince Crane, from the AA, said it is the "worst I have ever known it".

National Highways said 96.2% of England's motorways and major A roads are in "good condition".

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In December, part of the M32 northbound was closed for resurfacing after two potholes, one which was three metres by one metre (9ft by 3ft), had deteriorated.

Mr Crane said with HGV's getting "heavier and heavier... it means inside lanes are bad".

He said the stretch along the motorway from Weston to Bristol is particularly bad.

"We often see clusters of punctures on the hard shoulder... [which] often follows a bad stretch," he added.

Lane one of the motorway has a higher number of potholes, which they say is likely caused by the higher number of HGV's using that lane.

Mr Marques says the state of motorway potholes is "a nightmare"

Tiago Marques told the BBC he had to pay £1,000 to repair his car after driving over a pothole on the motorway at 36mph (57km/h).

"I think [potholes] are a nightmare, it's unsafe," he said.

"Especially the ones that get filled with water, they look like puddles and you can't see, even if you're going slowly."

"I hit a pothole and damaged the wheel bearing, and because I do lots of miles it showed up very quickly. Within three months I had three [damaged] wheel bearings."

The large pothole seen in this dashcam footage caused Mr Marques thousands of pounds worth of damage

National Highways' Executive Director for Operations Duncan Smith said a recent survey shows a high number of roads are in good condition.

"We understand that good quality roads are important to drivers as around four million journeys take place on our network each day.

"And we set stringent standards for pothole repairs on our roads which is why we work incredibly hard to maintain the network and keep drivers safe," Mr Smith added.

A spokesperson for National Highways, which is responsible for around 4,500 miles of motorways and major A-roads, said during 2023-24 they repaired a total of 20,602 pavement defects - potholes and other minor surface repairs - within 24 hours of identification.

Almost £2bn is being spent resurfacing the strategic road network between 2020 and 2025 and they said the use of graphene is being trialled in road surfacing which is designed to test whether the material could prolong the lifespan of roads and cut down on the frequency of potholes.