County’s £520k payout for car pothole damage
COUNTY roads chiefs have shelled out more than half a million pounds in three years in compensation claims for damage to vehicles caused by potholes, it’s been revealed.
Figures compiled by a What Car? investigation show that only Surrey and Lincolnshire county halls, along with the nationwide Highways England, have paid out in excess of Lancashire County Council’s (LCC) £520,745.26 bill covering 2018-2021.
A total of 4,016 claims were made in the period in Lancashire, of which 1,903 were successful - at a rate of 47.4 per cent.
“I’m appalled but not surprised,” said Rossendale West County Coun Samara Barnes.
“Only this past month, I have had three residents contact me for support in making claims against LCC because they have damaged their car due to the roads locally. And that’s just what I’ve been contacted about in just one month. There are 84 councillors so that will add up quickly.”
The total amount handed over to claimants by LCC equates to an average £273.64 per claim. What Car? say the cost of filling a pothole has previously been estimated at a fraction of that - £47.
Labour Coun Barnes added: “I’m not an expert ‘yet’, but I think the issue is two-fold. The potholes don’t get dealt with quick enough and then when they do, the job isn’t done properly.
“I use the phrase ‘teaspooning in tarmac’, because that’s what they do.
“They don’t seal the job properly so it needs doing again a few months later.
“Most of our roads need full resurfacing, let’s face it. I’d be interested in breaking this down even further by area and seeing which parts of LCC had the most claims. I bet you a pound to a penny it would be East Lancs/Rossendale.”
She encouraged anyone who feels that they have had their vehicle damaged due to poor quality roads to contact their local county councillor.
While 344 local and roads authorities answered the trade publication’s Freedom of Information request, 161 of them stated they were unable to provide figures as road compensation often fell under the remit of county and city councils, rather than borough or district councils.
A spokesman for Lancashire County Council said: “As the fourth largest council in the country with 4,600 miles of roads to maintain we often appear towards the top of tables like this, however we have since greatly reduced the number of highway damage related claims we pay out on.
“For example, in 2021/22, we successfully defended over 81% of the 1,331 highway claims we received.
“Our ability to defend claims depends on being able to prove that we carry out regular safety inspections on the basis of risk, with the busiest, higher risk, roads being inspected most often and, when defects are found, we make timely repairs.
“We have improved the way we do this over recent years allowing us to defend the vast majority of claims, and encourage members of the public to help us keep our roads safe by reporting any issues they identify using our online Report It system.”