Most motorists have encountered a pesky pothole during their driving experience, but these holes in the road can often be more dangerous and harmful than people may think, and it is about time that they were taken seriously.
Between October and December last year the RAC were called out to 2800 breakdowns caused by poorly maintained roads, which has increased year on year from 2500 during the same period in 2016, showing that they are up by more than 10%.
Potholes cause damage
Hitting a pothole can pose all kinds of problems to a vehicle, including damaging shock absorbers, breaking the suspension, and warping wheels, all of which cost the motorist a considerable amount of money to have repaired.
The RAC’s pothole index shows that road quality has steadily decreased over the past 18 months, and the number of potholes could increase by spring if Britain continues to experience cold or wet weather, which is practically guaranteed.
Although driving over a pothole is often scary and costly for those in cars, it can be life-threatening for cyclists or people riding motorbikes, and these damaged roads do put motorists at a severe risk which is why it is vital that the government and local councils do what they can to fix them. People are walking on roads, especially muddier ones can sprain ankles and worse because a pothole is deeper than appearances.
© Copyright Richard Webb and licensed for reuse under this Creative Commons Licence.
Passing the blame
The issue here is that councils say that the government does not give them enough funding to repair roads, but the government argue that they are spending a record £23 billion on road repairs and that local councils are not allocating the funds in the right way.
The vast potholes on our roads seem to happen because local councils are prioritising larger, commuter roads when deciding where their funding should be spent. The amount spent on repairing local roads has dropped by 23% between 2011 and 2017 to £1.87 billion whereas spending on A roads has increased by around 20% to £1.43 billion.
However, local councils state that they are unable to carry out long-term repairs on their roads with the funding that is available to them, so they are having to complete short-term fixes instead which does not solve the overall problem, and are fixing a pothole every 9 seconds! The short-term fix does not work as the rain gets into the cracks and splits up the tarmac, covering the road in the rubble, making it even more treacherous than before.
The Local Government Association has made the point that motorways and major roads in England are receiving 52 times more funding per mile than local roads are, although local roads make up around 98% of the country’s network and boast a total distance of roughly a quarter of a million miles. Local roads are also where two-thirds of all journeys are made, so they do need looking after to keep road users safe.
Surrey is the worst for potholes
The LGA also stated that there is a £12 billion repair bill which could be paid over a decade, and suggests that an extra £1 billion per year is given to local councils to fix roads by allocating 2p from every litre of fuel duty to this particular cause.
One pothole horror story, which comes from Cranleigh in Surrey, sees residents on a particular road referring to the tarmac as ‘the moon’s surface’ because of how damaged and full of craters it is. The problem that they are having is that the council say it is a private road and not their responsibility, but the residents do not believe that they should be responsible for its maintenance, as the council provides housing for disabled residents along the road.
Reports released in the last few days show that Surrey has over 6700 unfixed potholes, over double the amount of any other council area. In data from the website Fill That Hole, which gets cyclists to record potholes as they are best placed, compiled by 24/7 Vehicle Rescue, the data showed an insurmountable number of potholes across Surrey, with Kent following at 3100. These figures show how sorry the state of our roads are in and the shocking condition that can harm so many people.
What next?
With roads like this becoming so damaged that they are negatively affecting people’s lives, it is undoubtedly time for the government to take the LGA’s advice and increase funding so that local roads can be fixed properly and not left to disintegrate. Fixing local roads will save motorists a lot of stress and money in the long run too.
What are the potholes like near you? Have you ever had to deal with insurance because of potholes? Let us know
This situation is the same every year as winter takes hold and the freeze thaw affect eats away at our roads. I’ve been driving for the past 33yrs and in that time I’ve never hit a pothole that has damaged my cars. The big issue is observing the road ahead and driving safely to suit the road conditions. The majority of incidents where drivers damage there cars due to hitting potholes is purely due to bad driving, lack of observation. We are all aware of the road conditions, and cant expect the roads to be perfect. Therefore we all have to take care when driving and take responsibility for our own safety.
Surrey County Council, is that you?
I’m sure focusing on navigating potholes instead of, for instance, pedestrians or other cars benefits road safety.
What an idiotic statement, do you work for the council or government?
I presume you don’t drive in the dark or when it’s raining and the potholes are full of water??
Try driving down a twisty “A” road when there is a pothole around the corner. Do you suggest we should all drive at a speed where we can safely proceed without crashing over the pothole?
“A” roads should be good enough to drive on at 60 mph, not 15 mph. I drive regularly on the A68 in County Durham, those of us who are familiar with the potholes try and take avoiding action, oncoming traffic permitting. If there is oncoming traffic, there is no option but to hit them. If people slowed down sufficiently to avoid them or mitigate potential damage, there would be emergency braking and possible rear end collisions on a very very frequent basis.
Maybe if they were correctly ‘fixed’ in the first place they would last longer..i watched the men ‘fix’ the 8 in my road ..dug them out ,refilled them,rolled over them..done!!…we all pay enough with our cars to use the roads, so should have decent ones to drive on..sadly the councils always have ‘better’ things to do with their money..they have expensive lunches to have.
Better things to do with OUR money !!
There were two potholes in the road outside of our driveway. I reported these to our local council who several months later turned up to fix the problem. But, they only repaired one as they second one ‘was not big enough yet’!!
The two potholes were about 2 feet apart. So they guys packed up and went away leaving one repaired and one open. I cannot understand the logic in this at all. What a waste of time and money as they will have to return to do the second pothole very soon.
The way the workers see it is that it keeps them in a job.
Council rules are to blame, also known as bureaucracy also known as having no common sense.
Part of a rural road was closed to fix a couple of potholes within one week the potholes were there again larger than before. Why can we not fix things well in this country instead of doing everything on the cheap. It always backfires. Do things once and do it properly.
I reside in Somerset but have just spent two days in Gloucestershire. The roads are simply terrible there, quite shocking. Trying to swerve and avoid the potholes is dangerous.
Cheshire A51 was a shocker yesterday 31 Jan. Hundreds of deep short potholes. It was like space invaders trying to avoid them and the rubble they have produced. Never experienced it like this in last 25 years of using this route!
Claim! Make sure you send the council a garage repair bill for any damage to your car. Take a photo of the hole and the damage to your tyre/wheel/suspension etc. with all dates and times. You have to follow up again and again but they will eventually send you a cheque as it’s their responsibility.
We did that … but guess what … the council … Sevenoaks in Kent… wriggled out if paying
Hi
I live in Wigan the potholes seem to out number the population they aredangerous and costly to drivers (£36 for tracking) even the main arterial routes ( A49 & 59 ) dont escape, come on driver’s in Wigan lets start stamping our feet.
Tom Hughes
I live in a rural area on a junction of B roads where a lot of HGV’s use it to cut through to main roads. Over the last year, the road has become horrendous. If I walk down to my village, I take my life in my hands as there is no footpath anyway and now I have to walk down the middle of the road to avoid potholes. At dusk I don’t venture out otherwise I would break my neck. Councils solution? They’ve put up a temporary road sign – for the last year!
Bloody great holes in the M1 is f-all to do with councils. thats highways england. The bit between Leicester and J25 is apalling.
The potholes in our area PR6 9NA are a nightmare I find that I am concentrating more on looking out for potholes than the safety of other road users its like driving on an obstacle course very dangerous. When a pothole is repaired its important that the joint is sealed to stop water getting under the repair, in the past they used to melt down solid blocks of tar to pour into the joint and it sets solid now they use an aerosol how can an sealant that can be sprayed through a fine nozzle seal the joint in the road properly?
I don’t believe Robert Heath has got a car,to drive as he suggested would mean swerving all over the road and being liable to be stopped and breathalised. I think Gloucestershire has the worst roads by far.I go to Majorca regularly and the roads there are amazing. In fact as well as being a nice holiday destination, just go for the pleasure of driving on smooth well maintained roads.
The ironic thing about Majorca is, I remember going to Spain and Portugal when their roads were atrocious and ours were good or, at least, reasonable. How things change.
Hey ho, once we leave the EU, we should have plenty of money to spend on roads. Like hell, we will!
I don’t think it matters which part of the country we all live in. It’s the same story everywhere – The roads are a total mess and not enough money is spent on them. If the government are spending £23 Billion on them and there are still potholes, then spend £30 Billion to get them fixed once and for all. My council [Renfrewshire] are quite happy to have pot holes EVERYWHERE, yet they spend their money on raising the pavements at ALL the bus stops !!!! Total waste of money and could be spent better on the actual roads. Try claiming the council for new springs; tyres or suspension and see how you get on. Good luck with that. It is a total disgrace when you consider how much road tax is costing us.
Raised pavements are for disabled people to help embark or disembark a bus, the trouble is old dears walking on the pavement and crossing the road don’t see this step of about 12″ instead of the usual 5″ fall rear over front into the road like my old mother in law did. there are buses with air suspension that can lower the bus to help disabled people to leave the vehicle yet the councils waste all that money when they are going to lower them again when new buses come into service
Total shambles in Glasgow too!
It’s not just pot-holes, it’s the underlying state of the road structure that is failing and the pot hole is an indication that the damage is an accumulated break up of the layers that make up our roads. Highway engineers are concerned that the money offered by councils is inadequate to deal with the underlying causes of road failure and ends up with politicians using cosmetic measures. The reconstruction of whole road sections is the consequence of not repairing roads on an annual basis, for this serious money is needed. Clearly the Country cannot afford this regime – have we not had experience of road building and maintenance since the Romans for the last 2000 years?
I find Shropshire has a serious problem with there roads for example A41 Shrewsbury to Chester,compared to A483/A5 route through Wales to Chester
Lynn. Quite . Do it once, do it well, which is cheaper in the long run anyway. In our case (my wife and I live in Devon) the council may come and fill two potholes, but not a third one inches away. Evidently there is a quota, but not the wherewithal. The only solution I can think of are to rationalise admin, and stop wasting money
I found that Shropshire has a serious problem maintaining there roads for example Shrewsbury to Chester route A41 is in a poor state of potholes compared to Shrewsbury to Chester finding A483 in Wales well maintained but surprised the A5 leading to it ( Shropshire ) was overall good so would love to no what makes them decide where there money should be spent on which roads and why?
This water based tar they now use is no good it isn’t hot enough at 80 degrees to bind with whats already down, this is why in a warm summer the roads bleed and the stone come loose, they used to use stuff that was heated to 180 degrees but after years of use they then decided it was dangerous to use. you don’t see roads bleed in France or Spain where it is much hotter.
Cheshire is just as bad, village roads,A B & motorways, they have a policy that it’s got to be a certain size before it’s fixed, but wouldn’t it be cheaper to fix a lot of small holes, than wait till they becomes a craters?and even then it can take months to get around to them. And stop blaming the weather we have this types weather every year! Council’s need to get off their backsides and do something about it and stop spending money on flowers to make roundabouts look pretty and get the roads fixed. And as for taking photographs of holes that has caused the problem you can’t if you’ve been killed, I’m currently traveling back and to to Manchester from Cheshire I’ve not seen 1 pothole being fixed.
The amount of money taken of motorist with very little in return is highway robbery. We pay into the treasury the lions share of taxation , Prior to vehicle tax we had road fund license which was renamed in order to rob the the motorist .
They all blame each other for the poor road maintenance. I believe the government does pay the local authority money to repair the pot holes and raised grids ,Its he clowns running the local council who spend it on hair brained schemes. In our area Tameside the council have spent our money on three new market grounds which are devoid of traders ,this just one example of Tameside council waste . The government should ring fence the money and stop giving it to the clown squad to spend it as they please, I would not trust our lot with a Tesco shopping list
I hit a pothole – thankfully at slow speed – which caused my front suspension to collapse. I damaged two parked cars, my Polo was written off and my insurance premiums have not recovered!!
Why did you not claim from the council?
On my previous BMW 4 years ago I had 3 cracked alloy wheels within an 18 month period due to pot holes which cost £500 each. I tried to claim from Buckinghamshire Council for one of them as I knew exactly where it happened but to no avail, even though the whole width of the road was covered with potholes they replied saying that it wasn’t bad enough!! They must be blind or stupid or both. Whilst I try to avoid potholes by driving round them if it’s dark or raining it’s not possible as they can’t be seen.
Was your car fitted with tyres with a profile of less than 55% ?
Part of the problem is down to the repair contractors not carrying out their work correctly. The councils do not inspect standards of work only checking the finished job looks OK. I have seen contractors simply filling holes with tarmac mix and not digging out any loose substrate before filling and compacting. No wonder the potholes reappear so quickly. With councils admitting many repairs are only temporary it seems they are always going to fail to reach acceptable standards.
I quite agree, there is no quality assurance to road resurfacing or repair. Either the product is inferior or the standard of workmanship is. Roads should not disintegrate so soon after being laid. The winters are certainly no worse than the years gone by, and whilst I accept the weight of traffic has increased significantly, new technology and methods surely have progressed sufficiently to deal with such use. The contractors are having the penny and the bun, paid lay roads then to come repair. It’s in their interest to keep milking the golden goose!!!
As a former Section Civil Engineer building Heads of Valleys Road in 1964, I always have maintained that the surface thickness used here on some roads are not related to the amount of traffic. This should be taken into account in ensuring the Thickness would give a minimum life of 10 years or more. The less times needing resurfacing the lower the Labour and Machine costs per square Meter. The thicker the application the less likelihood of any Potholes!! When potholes are repaired the depth should always be increased before filling to stop traffic sucking it out again!!
In early 90’s Bury County Council developed a procedure that meant potholes could be repaired seamlessly, very quickly and with little cost. It was demonstrated on TV. It was to be the future of road repairs. What he’ll happened to it?
It’s a great shame that a nation that invented tarmac has worst roafs in Europe. But then we have invented many things that unfortunately we are no longet very good at!
we don’t need no speedhumps in Northamptonshire, there is enough potholes and busted speedhumps in Wellingborough and around 30 miles radius I wonder where the road tax goes, filling fatcats backsides with
The government take it to fund Trident and stuff like that.. almost none of it comes back to the Counties.. especially rural ones that are not near London
Do councils leave potholes just to make motorists drive slower ?
Talk to a tar maccer, they can’t use hot boxes or burners, h&s, so most repairs are temporary (in some cases, very) lasting only days or less. Good news for them as it’s repeat business which us, ad every retailer knows, ‘where it’s at’
Most of the gangs are capable of using hot boxes and burners, and it is permitted under health and safety law, but their employers all want the repeat business, so do not let them. Another thing to thank Margaret Thatcher for, when she insisted that ” privatisation of the direct labour organisations would drive down cost and improve quality” 1000% wrong.. And don’t the county councils funds suffer now they are using profit making firms to do the works…
I live in Kettering where the general state of roads, even major roads (particularly those which have been dug up numerous times by various contractors), is dire and I think this applies pretty much throughout the whole of the county of Northamptonshire and probably pretty much all UK counties. Pot hole repairing is not a fix, only a sticking plaster, because weather conditions and heavy traffic combine resulting in the filling being removed and the debris is then scattered across the road. The potholes subsequently incur further damage.
If councils say they are underfunded then I would be quite happy to pay another 2p /litre fuel tax to have the problem sorted properly.
If it was just the diabolical potholes in every road I drive, apart from the odd few that have been newly ‘tarmaced’, it’s the ‘sleeping policemen’ and ‘pillows’ that demolish cars. Due to these menaces the engine dropped 2″ on my car where a retaining bolt (Cost about £2, fitting pushing £100!!!) sheared from too many years of of abuse from the road. I am a safe driver and avoid potholes wherever possible, drive slowly and level up on the pillows and gently over the sleeping policemen so…..will continue to do so and endure!!!
It’s time local government employed its own staff to maintain the roads instead of giving it to private contractors who charge crazy money and do a half hearted job I hate privatisation see Margaret thatcher for putting all the heavy goods vehicles on the road instead of the railways. More men on the dole instead of working look at what she did to the miners..
Britain has become a joke with the state of its roads and the government don’t seem to care. Roads used to be constructed properly with heavy road rollers used to compact real Tarmac. Now inferior products are used and not compacted enough resulting in disintegration and mess everywhere. It’s height time this rich nation of ours got its act together and looked after its infrastructure, we need the right government with the right mindset to bring us back on track.
As much as I agree with you, no political party will run as the “We will give priority to filling potholes above anything else”.
I have just written to Kirkless council as there are potholes on nearly every road. One pothole in Bradley Huddersfield is the size of a football and is unavoidable because of parked cars on the other side of the road.
On Leeds Road in Dewsbury it is like playing dodgems to try and avoid them. IN some places they are all down the middle of the road. No action has been taken since I emailed them.
I live in Honiton, (East Devon Council) and, instead of repairing the local roads in town (some of which are in a condition bordering on dangerous) they are spending £180,000 on ‘improving’ three children’s play areas, one in Seaton and two in Honiton – I kid you not!. A classic case of the council using that unlimited currency that bureaucrats love – OPM (other peolpe’s money)
The only reason that potholes are not being fixed adequately, is that local authorities have had their government revenue support grant halved, at least, since 2010. Revenue support grant is the bulk of local authority funding, other than council tax, fees and charges.
Local county highway authorities are starved of funding because local authorities have many other commitments they have to meet under the law, such as education, fire services, social care needs, street lighting etc., as well as road maintenance.
Some highway improvement projects attract EU funding, but minor roads do not, so authorities have difficult decisions to make.
Sadly the local authorities are now paying out millions in damage claims from car drivers, which could be spent on pothole repairs, but it would be a drop in the ocean compared to the backlog created by the present governments policies.
This is just another symptom of idiotic government austerity policies, false economy.
All while they have doubled the national debt to around £1.8 Trillion, on which we, the tax payers, pay interest of £70 Billion this year! Madness.
Get the app on your i phone,Fill That Hole.Take a photo of the pothole,a flag on the app will tell your council exactly where it is.submit the details.
Your complaint will be registered.Takes no more than 90 seconds.lve reported dozens.The council I report potholes to usually fill them within 2-6 weeks with their band aid pot hole mix.Not a proper job but saves carrying my passport if I fall into one.If a lot more people report the problems it should send a message to government that residents have had enough of the poor maintenance of our roads.This site is good for the-exchange of views,but please actually tell the council and get a written response.
Blame the EU for forcing overweight trucks onto our roads!
Blame the EU forforcing overweight trucks onto our road!
We pay to use the roads, it used to be called “road tax”!!! Bring it all back where it belongs instead if it getting swallowed up in the “big pot”!! Our roads have never been this bad, they are disgusting and dangerous.
II was in Bury, Greater Manchester this week, loads of potholes and far more than I’ve seen anywhere else. Too many to dodge on non-major roads. Only a smallish district, not a county. How embarrasssing for them. Won’t go there again unless I have to; luckily for me and my car, that should only be once more in my life.
Never mind the potholes, the powers that be have already made an executive decision the money needs to be spent on more more more average speed cameras! What better way to ensure safety than enforcing mindless conformity!?
There was a time when councils served the community. Now they are The Council Plc with special ties to road maintenance companies. Clearly the ruling classes don’t care about damage to the common man’s vehicles. Blaming the weather is rich when lack of salt causes roads to freeze deep. The roads in Mombasa in Kenya are better than in Watford and some of theirs are dirt tracks. Go to Oxford City however and no such problems. This is just another step in the endless decline of standards and society. Maggie and her free market economy where greed is good and we don’t matter. Viva la revolution
Beware if you intend to claim for pothole damage do not report the location until your claim details have reached the council. If you advise pothole location before claiming they will repair and say they are not responsible as the repair was carried out as part of their planned surveys.
A recent comment was made that said in Britain we drive on the left on the road and in Scotland we drive on what is left of the road
where i live in Hastings they have just closed 8 roads at night to re tarmac the whole stretch of one road..what a pleasure it was to drive on it today., the only joke was, there was nothing wrong with the road in the first place..a few little ‘digs’ here and there but nothing major! where was the logic in that one ?
As part of the United Kingdom the roads over here in Co, Tyrone, Northern Ireland are terrible and all they do is keep covering them over…
This situation is the same every year as winter takes hold and the freeze thaw affect eats away at our roads. I’ve been driving for the past 33yrs and in that time I’ve never hit a pothole that has damaged my cars. The big issue is observing the road ahead and driving safely to suit the road conditions. The majority of incidents where drivers damage there cars due to hitting potholes is purely due to bad driving, lack of observation. We are all aware of the road conditions, and cant expect the roads to be perfect. Therefore we all have to take care when driving and take responsibility for our own safety.
Surrey County Council, is that you?
I’m sure focusing on navigating potholes instead of, for instance, pedestrians or other cars benefits road safety.
What an idiotic statement, do you work for the council or government?
I presume you don’t drive in the dark or when it’s raining and the potholes are full of water??
Try driving down a twisty “A” road when there is a pothole around the corner. Do you suggest we should all drive at a speed where we can safely proceed without crashing over the pothole?
“A” roads should be good enough to drive on at 60 mph, not 15 mph. I drive regularly on the A68 in County Durham, those of us who are familiar with the potholes try and take avoiding action, oncoming traffic permitting. If there is oncoming traffic, there is no option but to hit them. If people slowed down sufficiently to avoid them or mitigate potential damage, there would be emergency braking and possible rear end collisions on a very very frequent basis.
Maybe if they were correctly ‘fixed’ in the first place they would last longer..i watched the men ‘fix’ the 8 in my road ..dug them out ,refilled them,rolled over them..done!!…we all pay enough with our cars to use the roads, so should have decent ones to drive on..sadly the councils always have ‘better’ things to do with their money..they have expensive lunches to have.
Better things to do with OUR money !!
There were two potholes in the road outside of our driveway. I reported these to our local council who several months later turned up to fix the problem. But, they only repaired one as they second one ‘was not big enough yet’!!
The two potholes were about 2 feet apart. So they guys packed up and went away leaving one repaired and one open. I cannot understand the logic in this at all. What a waste of time and money as they will have to return to do the second pothole very soon.
The way the workers see it is that it keeps them in a job.
Council rules are to blame, also known as bureaucracy also known as having no common sense.
Part of a rural road was closed to fix a couple of potholes within one week the potholes were there again larger than before. Why can we not fix things well in this country instead of doing everything on the cheap. It always backfires. Do things once and do it properly.