The Courier & Advertiser (Perth and Perthshire Edition)
More than one million potholes reported to councils last year
£3.1m compensation paid to drivers whose vehicles were damaged
More than 150,000 potholes with a cumulative depth of nearly four miles were reported to Scottish councils last year.
They were a portion of the more than one million potholes to which motorists alerted councils across the UK.
A study for insurance firm Confused.com also revealed that councils paid £3.1 million in compensation to drivers whose vehicles were damaged by poor road surfaces in 2016.
Local authorities across the UK spent an additional £104m repairing potholes.
The figures were obtained following Freedom of Information requests to 412 local authorities.
Confused.com calculated the UK’s potholes have a total depth of more than 25 miles, which is almost four times deeper than the Pacific Ocean.
A survey of 2,000 motorists found that one in three (33%) have suffered damage to their vehicles due to poor road surfaces, including tyres and suspension problems.
Confused.com motoring editor Amanda Stretton said: “Scrolling to depths of 40km (25 miles) really puts the UK’s pothole problem into perspective.
“They are a major bugbear among drivers, not least because of the damage they do to our vehicles – around £3.1m-worth of damage.
“If drivers experience a bump in the road, they should report it to their local council as soon as possible before the problem gets any worse.
“The cost of motoring alone is getting more and more expensive and damage repairs is a big contributor to this, as car parts increase in price as well.”
The annual road maintenance survey by the Ashphalt Industry Alliance found that local authorities in England and Wales need more than £12 billion of funding to bring the road network up to scratch.
This is several times more than councils’ entire annual revenue spending on highways and transport, which was £4.4bn in England last year.