Britain's pothole crisis is costing motorists £3.3 billion a year in repair bills, according to a study by Censuswide for Close Brothers Motor Finance. The study estimates there are one million potholes across the UK, and a driver whose vehicle is damaged by one faces an average repair bill of £341.
Common repair issues include suspension damage, misaligned tracking and blown tyres, the study found.
West Midlands and North East worst hit
The West Midlands came out worst, with 33 per cent of motorists saying their vehicle had been damaged by a pothole in the last year. The average repair cost there is £350. Cities in the region include Birmingham, Coventry and Wolverhampton.
The North East was close behind, with 26 per cent of drivers reporting damage and repairs costing around £325. Newcastle, Durham and Sunderland are the region's main cities.
The North West and Wales both recorded 25 per cent of drivers affected, but their repair costs differ by more than £100. The North West, which includes Manchester, Liverpool and Lancaster, charges £362 on average, while Wales is the cheapest region for repairs at £238.
Greater London has the highest repair bills
Greater London is the most expensive region for repairs, with drivers facing bills of £512 on average. Twenty-four per cent of London motorists reported being affected. The North West is the second most expensive region at £362, followed by the East of England, covering Cambridge, Norwich and St Albans, at £361, where 19 per cent of drivers reported pothole damage.
Separate consumer research found that 27 per cent of motorists now rank potholes among their single biggest concerns when it comes to owning and driving a vehicle.
John Cassidy, managing director at Close Brothers Motor Finance, said the state of Britain's roads had escalated from a minor driving inconvenience into a multi-billion-pound crisis hitting motorists directly in the pocket. He said facing an unexpected repair bill of £341 was a bitter pill to swallow, and that the fear of a surprise financial hit was manifesting as real anxiety for many Britons, with more than a quarter listing potholes among their biggest concerns when driving. Cassidy said that at a time when drivers were already navigating high insurance premiums, running costs and a broader cost-of-living crisis, he hoped the government would continue to support motorists and properly equip local councils to fix the worsening issue.
'Mr Pothole' warns of growing backlog
Mark Morrell, known as Mr Pothole, said drivers were paying a staggering £3.3 billion every year for damage caused by failing roads, while the maintenance backlog had reached a record £18.6 billion and was continuing to grow by around £1.22 billion annually. He said only one in four motorists successfully recovered their repair costs, despite millions of potholes and road defects being reported, and that the current system was simply not working.
Morrell said government funding increases were welcome but not enough to stop the decline. He called for a ring-fenced, index-linked £4 billion annual resurfacing programme on top of existing maintenance funding, warning that without it the backlog would keep growing and more roads would fail structurally. He said it was time to stop managing decline and start rebuilding Britain's roads properly.
AA reports record callouts
Potholes are also a major issue for AA members, with 96 per cent citing them as their number one transport issue. Last year the AA dealt with 613,638 pothole-related callouts, an average of 1,681 every day, which it says is costing drivers millions of pounds in repairs.
Edmund King, AA president, said that even though potholes are associated with rain, snow and wintertime, there are still thousands of miles of road in need of urgent repairs this summer. He said potholes can cost drivers a fortune, but for those on two wheels it can cost them their lives, and called for far more focus on permanent repairs rather than a “patch and run” approach.
Regional breakdown
- East Midlands: 22% / £339
- East of England: 19% / £361
- Greater London: 24% / £512
- North East: 26% / £325
- North West: 25% / £362
- Northern Ireland: 18% / £313
- Scotland: 13% / £257
- South East: 23% / £242
- South West: 24% / £326
- Wales: 25% / £238
- West Midlands: 33% / £350
- Yorkshire and The Humber: 20% / £280
How to claim for pothole damage
Drivers whose vehicle has been directly damaged by a pothole may be able to claim compensation. The first step is gathering evidence, including as many photos of the pothole and the vehicle as possible.
Local authorities differ in how they handle claims, so drivers should check who to report an incident to and describe in detail where the pothole is located. When a vehicle is taken for repairs, receipts should be kept and scanned to upload with the claim, showing exactly how much the repair cost.
For a pothole to be officially classified as a pothole, it must be over 4cm deep. It can also help to ask a mechanic to confirm in writing that the vehicle was damaged by a pothole, to strengthen a claim.
