Drivers made 63 compensation claims a day for pothole injury final 12 months, figures reveal at the moment.
More than 23,000 claims have been made by drivers in England final 12 months, whose automobiles have been broken by crater-filled roads. Data obtained by way of freedom of knowledge requests exhibits the variety of claims rose to 23,042 in 2022/23, virtually double the 13,579 complaints the earlier 12 months.
Meanwhile, compensation paid out to motorists rose to £1.77million in 2022/23, up 6% from £1.66million the earlier 12 months. The Liberal Democrats, who obtained the figures from 85 native authorities in England, accused the Government of overseeing a “pothole pandemic on our roads”.
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PA)
Surrey County Council had the very best variety of payout claims with 2,351 in 2022/23, greater than triple the earlier 12 months. This was adopted by Essex County Council with 1,701, and West Sussex with 1,639.
Some councils are additionally making large payouts for pothole injury. Last 12 months, Stoke-on-Trent City Council had one payout of just about £40,000, greater than every other council. Leeds City Council had a single pothole payout of £36,000, Kensington and Chelsea had a payout of £26,000 and Surrey County Council of £31,000.
Liberal Democrat native authorities spokesperson Helen Morgan mentioned: “This Conservative authorities has overseen a pothole pandemic on our roads. It’s now grow to be virtually unimaginable to drive in some elements of the nation with out having to swerve to keep away from potholes.
“This has led to 1000’s of drivers having to say for injury to their autos and even private damage attributable to crater-filled roads. The Government is firmly in charge for this failure to take care of our roads correctly after having slashed funding for native street repairs.
She warned that cash-strapped councils have been struggling to fund street repairs – and known as for funding for freeway upkeep budgets to be urgently restored.
A Department for Transport spokeswoman mentioned: “We are investing an extra £8.3 billion to resurface roads across the country, the biggest ever funding increase for local road maintenance. This is enough to resurface more than 5,000 miles of roads and is on top of the more than £5.5 billion that we have already invested in highway maintenance.”