UK motorists made claims for pothole damage every 17 minutes in 2015 and 2016, a recent study has revealed.
31,483 claims were made in the last financial year against councils for vehicle damage caused by poor road conditions, an RAC Foundation survey found – up 9% from the previous year.
In England, Hampshire saw the most pothole-related issues, with 1,952 claims in the past year, closely followed by Surrey with 1,412 claims and Hertfordshire with 1,369.
In Scotland, Glasgow came out worst off with 794 pothole claims, with Edinburgh in a close second with 514, and in Wales, Cardiff and Vale of Glamorgan received 237 and 173 claims respectively.
However, with no guarantee of being able to claim money back, only one in four UK motorists are receiving compensation for their reported claims from councils - earlier this year
Admiral reported that of the almost 29,000 drivers who lodged complaints against councils for pothole damage, only 25% of claims were successful.
The average pay-out for a pothole claim is around £306, which is significantly less than the average claim of £432, and the most common types of damage to cars are punctures, wrecked wheels and broken axles.
It also seems that an excessive backlog of road maintenance in the UK may be the driving factor behind the volume of claims, leaving motorists facing the consequences.
Government assessments put the backlog at up to £8.6bn, however the latest annual survey of local authority highways departments, commissioned by the Asphalt Industry Alliance, finds that the backlog is as high as £11.6bn and could take up to 14 years to fix.
Steve Gooding, director of the RAC Foundation, said: “These figures are symptomatic of the inadequate funding available for local road maintenance. Year in, year out, the backlog of work on local roads is estimated to run to several billion pounds.”
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