Drivers paying £10m repair bill for damage from potholes

SCOTS motorists are being saddled with an annual repair bill of up to £10million as councils fail to fix potholed roads, experts believe.

The huge sum includes the fixing of cracked wheels, broken suspension and burst tyres caused by drivers hitting craters on the country’s dilapidated carriageways.

The shocking figure has been revealed following the release of statistics that show there are more than 154,000 potholes north of the Border with angry drivers reporting on average 430 every day.

And there are warnings things could get worse, with potholes set to get wider and deeper in the wake of the Beast from the East winter storm, which saw the transport network crippled by snow and freezing temperatures.

RAC spokesman Simon Williams said: ‘In the majority of cases, drivers do not claim or report damage to their cars as a result of potholes. They simply pay to have it fixed or claim on their own insurance.

‘With this in mind, we estimate that the true cost to drivers in Scotland is more like £10million a year and £100million a year across the UK, far greater than the council compensation figures suggest.’ He added: ‘Unfortunately, Siberian weather was the last thing our roads needed as the freezing conditions wreak havoc with any road surface that is in bad repair. We fear that this spring we may see the emergence of

‘Our roads are in a terrible state’

almost as many potholes as daffodils.’

Between April 2014 and September 2017, the country’s 32 local authorities spent £83.2million fixing the potholes reported to them by the public. But despite the number of pothole complaints remaining in six figures for four years running, the amount of compensation paid annually to drivers fell from a peak of £248,500 in 2015 to £226,200 the next year.

Overall, councils have paid £757,000 in compensation to Scotland’s drivers since 2014.

Data last year showed that Scotland has the most damaged roads in Britain, with a combined pothole depth of 3.7 miles.

Edinburgh has the most heavily potholed streets, with the capital’s council recording 35,329 complaints in 2016.

Over the same period, council bosses paid out a record £69,385 in compensation, almost double the previous year and the second highest amount paid out by any council in any one year.

Glasgow City Council paid out £90,700 in 2014 but over the past three years the number of potholes reported by drivers in Glasgow has fallen from 20,000 to 13,000.

Neil Greig, director of policy and research at the Institute of Advanced Motoring, said: ‘These figures back up what hard-pressed Scottish drivers already know: our roads are in a terrible state and trying to claim compensation is a bureaucratic nightmare.’

The statistics were compiled for website Confused.com.