Rutherglen Reformer

Pot holes claims rise

Compo bids up nearly half

- Nicola Findlay

Figures have revealed the number of pot hole compensati­on claims to South Lanarkshir­e Council have gone up by nearly 50 per cent in the last year.

The study by the RAC Foundation ranked the local authority the ninth worst in Scotland for drivers whose cars have been damaged by pot holes.

However, despite a 16 per cent jump in the number of successful claims, the amount paid out by South Lanarkshir­e actually dropped.

Figures show in 2015/16 the council paid out £5,917 compared to £ 8,740 in 2014/15.

However, the number of claims jumped from 158 to 233.

Meanwhile, in 2014/ 15 20 per cent of claims were successful compared to 36 per cent this year.

That equated to a jump from 30 to 31 successful claims.

And figures also show in 2013/14 there were 206 claims, 14 per cent of which were successful with the council paying out £4,031.

Nearby Glasgow City being ranked the worst in Scotland with 794 claims and forking out £13,929.

One driver, Chris Logue, admitted he wasn’t surprised by the news.

He said: “The roads in the area are poor, in particular Bridge Street right through to M74 slip road past Carmyle.

“Richmond Park is shockingly bad, I buckled an alloy at the junction at Lidl.”

The RAC Foundation said claims against UK councils in the last year topped 31,000, which is one every 17 minutes.

Drivers made 31,483 claims against UK councils for vehicle damage caused by poorly maintained roads.

The total payout by all UK councils was £1,784,238.

In Sc o t l a n d local authoritie­s paid out £ 162, 674 in 2015/16 an increase from £98,141 the previous year – a massive 66 per cent increase.

Ho w e v e r, South Lanarkshir­e Council say they are increasing an extra £12million a year until 2019 to their road network.

He a d of South Lanarkshir­e Council’s roads and transporta­tion services, Gordon Mackay, said: “Back in 2008 we began an ambitious roads investment programme which committed an extra £126m as part of a long term upgrading programme.

“This funding, which equates to an extra £12m a year, will continue until 2019.

“This long term approach to improving the condition of our roads has previously been commended by Audit Scotland.

“In recent years we have seen improvemen­t in the condition of our roads, a fact confirmed independen­tly by the national survey of road conditions in Scotland which is undertaken annually.

“We are not complacent though, and appreciate that much work remains to be done particular­ly on minor roads, which is why we have committed additional funding through to 2019.”

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