Breakdowns caused by UK pothole plague rise by a third as AA crews attend 1,700 incidents a day
- AA helped more than 52,000 motorists whose vehicles had been damaged by potholes
Well-related failures are up by nearly a third in a year — with AA crews attending 1,700 incidents a day.
Roadside assistance helped more than 52,000 motorists injured by potholes in April, up 29 percent from the same month last year.
The latest statistics suggest that 2023 could be one of the worst years for potholes since 2017, when the AA began recording failures caused by poorly maintained roads.
Data for the first four months of this year suggests potholes are causing more problems in the UK than last year – with these incidents already almost a quarter more than the same period in 2022.
And the breakdown service is urging the public to report any potholes they come across so that municipalities are notified.
(File photo) Potholes cover parts of Claremont Road in Cricklewood, North West London
(File photo) A large surface pit off Coleridge Road in Blackpool
A Mail survey found that motorway authorities are rejecting millions of pounds worth of pothole damage and injury claims, with less than one in four successful.
Many are turned down on the basis of a loophole in the Highways Act 1980, which states that councils and other highway authorities are only liable for payouts if they have failed to inspect roads frequently or make timely repairs. And municipalities can also plead ignorance if a hole has not been reported.
Jack Cousens, head of road policy at the AA, said: ‘The potholes pandemic looks set to continue for some time to come, with little hope of a cure on the horizon. To help governments and municipalities understand the true state of our roads, we need the public to report every pothole they see.”
The highest number of breakdowns in one year was in 2018 – when there were a total of 665,702 crew members.
The Daily Mail is campaigning to end the pit plague and in March Chancellor Jeremy Hunt pledged £200 million. It would cost £14 billion alone to tackle the road repair backlog in England and Wales, according to the Asphalt Industry Alliance.
Linda Taylor of the Local Government Association said: ‘Only through the government providing municipalities with more and long-term funding security can this growing problem be tackled.’
The Department for Transport said: ‘We encourage people to report road problems to their local authorities, and we are investing more than £5 billion from 2020 to 2025 to help them maintain local roads.’
Motorists are being treated like ‘cash cows’, paying huge amounts in taxes while the government spends too little on the roads, a think tank said today.
The Center for Policy Studies says fuel and vehicle excise taxes totaled £33bn in 2021/22, while just under £12bn was spent on road maintenance. The report recommends a “pay as you drive” charge, starting with electric vehicles.