Plague of potholes costs councils £3m damages

MOTORISTS reported more than a million potholes to local councils last year, figures reveal.

Councils spent £ 104million on repairing them – and paid out £3.1million to drivers whose vehicles had been damaged.

In total, 1,031,787 potholes were counted across the country.

Incredibly, they added up to a depth of 25 miles – over three times that of the Mariana Trench, the deepest point of the Pacific Ocean – based on the minimum depth a hole must be in order to be regarded as a pothole.

The figures are based on data given by 197 councils, following freedom of information requests by Confused.com. Some 215 refused to supply any information, meaning the actual number is likely to be much higher. The data also showed that Wiltshire county council had paid out the most in total compensation, at £507,546.

Local authorities in Scotland reported the most potholes, at 154,310, while those in South West England reported 138,672.

Julian Knight, Tory MP for Solihull and chairman of the parliamentary motoring campaign group FairFuelUK, said: ‘We need to encourage investment in our roads.’

Yesterday it was reported that Highways England is testing the use of sunflower oil capsules to fill in cracks in the road, after research found they could help asphalt ‘self-heal’.