Cornish driver among those calling for permanent fix to pothole 'crisis'
Figures reveal pothole damage to vehicles cost a staggering £474,000,000 last year
Last updated 15th Jan 2024
A new cross-industry 'pothole partnership' is calling for a permanent fix to the pothole 'crisis'.
New figures on National Pothole Day reveal annual damage to UK vehicles estimated at almost half a billion pounds.
Rob Lowe, from Lostwithiel, and his wife experienced costly damage due to potholes, after hitting one caused over £400 worth of damage to a car.
They have since had to battle hard to get compensation to pay for the damages to the vehicle.
Rob told us: "There was another driver who hit a pothole probably about 10-15 minutes after us and she probably came coasting into the garage afterwards. Two in one evening, probably in the space of about half an hour is pretty terrible.
"It seems to be really bad at the moment, it's probably the worst I've seen in years. Just around the corner from us, the hill into town is full of them."
As damning new data reveals the cost of the nation’s growing pothole crisis, a new coalition representing the interests of drivers, motorcyclists, cyclists, and road repairers, has issued a five-point plan for government, local authorities and road repair contractors to find a permanent solution to the problem.
The Pothole Partnership has been formed by the AA, the National Motorcyclists Council, and JCB, the UK manufacturer of plant and machinery that councils and contractors use to fix the nation’s roads. It is supported by British Cycling, the road safety charity IAM RoadSmart and the British Motorcyclists Federation.
Matt Thomas, AA Truro, said: "It's to do with suspension, steering, tyres and wheel damage, which can result in very expensive repairs.
"Our number one breakdown is battery and tyres, we see that every day. Be really vigilant. Sometimes there's signs up but most importantly, be aware of the road network around you. If you do get caught in a pothole, make sure you pull over and contact your breakdown provider."
The research from the AA reveals it dealt with 631,852 pothole related incidents in 2023, the highest for five years and up by over 16% on 2022’s figures.
For motorists it is the time and cost of potholes that impacts most, but they can be lethal for motorcyclists and cyclists. A survey last year in Motorcycle News revealed that 20% of motorcyclists claim to have had an accident or sustained damage due to hitting potholes.
The Government recently announced £8.3 billion in extra funding to repair England’s growing pothole problem although it falls short of the £14.1 billion the Asphalt Industry Alliance estimates is needed to tackle the backlog.
The partnership has welcomed the funding but issued a five-point plan calling for:
• Permanent: Local authorities to limit the practice of temporary pothole repairs or patches and, where possible, every pothole or patch to be repaired permanently.
• Precise: All local authorities / contractors to adhere to UK-wide repair and inspection standards, and annually report on the repairs undertaken
• Price: Government to demonstrate greater urgency by accelerating and increasing spending of the £8.3bn pothole funding for England in the first three years – with total clarity on the distribution to local authorities – and devolved authorities in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland encouraged to increase spending
• Provision: Central and local government to guarantee ringfencing of ALL road maintenance funding to help deliver innovations that enable permanent repairs.
• Progress: Full transparency from local authorities on their roads repair backlog, categorised by potholes, patching works and road resurfacing.
A key element of the plan is to encourage local authorities and road repair contractors to change the current culture of using manual repair teams to carry out short term temporary pothole repairs that then need refixing in a few months – or even a few weeks. The Pothole Partnership is calling for the speeding up of the transition to using new automated methods that can repair potholes faster, cheaper and more permanently
JCB recently launched the Pothole Pro, a one-man operated machine that can do the job four times faster and for half the price of traditional methods.
A recent poll of motorists carried out by the AA revealed that fixing potholes was the over-whelming transport priority cited by 96% of drivers.
Cornwall Council said: "We are responsible for maintaining over 7,250 kilometres (4,530 miles) of roads in Cornwall with a budget of around £40 million per year for ongoing road maintenance.
"We operate a robust inspection and repair regime and carry out safety inspections on a regular basis on our entire highway network. Resources are prioritised to fix potholes that have formed due to the recent very wet weather and now this current cold snap.
"However, potholes can develop in a very short space of time.  It is possible that one can appear between inspections and so we are not aware of it.  This is why we appreciate motorists reporting them.
"If anyone spots a pothole, we’re asking them to please report it using the easy to use digital defect reporting system. We will then keep them updated on progress.
"Between January and December last year we repaired 35,071 potholes across the highway network. Over 98% of the worst potholes are fixed within 48hrs."