Shapps pledges to fine companies that create potholes

WATER companies and broadband providers will be slapped with hundreds of thousands of pounds in fines for botched works that leave potholes, in a crackdown by Grant Shapps.

The Transport Secretary is targeting utility companies with a new inspections unit to address “the plague of potholes” on roads. Experts said potholes can be “killers” for cyclists.

Firms that dig up roads to fix drains or install fibre broadband fail to return them to a minimum standard on almost one in 10 occasions, the Department for Transport said. Officials did not disclose the worst offenders, claiming it was “commercially sensitive information”.

It does not plan to name companies that are fined, but said one company had failed inspections after roadworks were finished 63 per cent of the time.

Highway authorities check less than a third of roads after they are dug up, but new rules will mean up to 100 per cent of works will be inspected.

So, a national operator with 20,000 works could pay up to £1 million in penalties.

Mr Shapps said the “plague of potholes is the menace of our roads” and he intends to protect drivers “from unfair repair costs”.

Edmund King, president of AA, said: “The perilous potholes cause expensive damage to tyres, wheels and suspension of vehicles, but can be killers for those on two wheels.”