Potholes on UK Roads

Which areas of the UK have the most potholes?

From April 2018 to June 2021, there were over 1.5 million potholes on local roads reported to the 51 UK councils we spoke to. The total number is likely to be much higher than that due to this figure not including potholes on motorways and major roads, and many being unreported.

Northumberland had the greatest number of reported potholes during this time, with over 180,000. The table below highlights the areas with the greatest number of potholes reported and how many were repaired during this time.

As expected, larger council areas experience greater volumes of reported potholes than smaller ones.

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Areas with greatest number of reported potholes

*In some cases, councils had repaired a greater number of potholes than the the total number reported. This is due to the time periods during which this data refers to and the way the data is recorded.

For example, a pothole may be reported in one financial year and then repaired in another. Also, the reported figure might only include numbers reported by the public, while the total number repaired will include those identified by council road inspectors.

The table below shows the councils with the greatest volume of repaired potholes during this timeframe.

In areas where there are far greater numbers of repaired potholes than reported potholes, this could point to members of the public not being aware of how best to report a pothole to the local authority.

Learn how to report potholes.

How many pothole damage claims are submitted in the UK?

Potholes can cause damage to vehicles - if you hit one you might be entitled to claim compensation due to pothole damage from your local council.

However, compensation is only available for potholes where it was reported and not fixed within the council’s set timescales or they decided it could be repaired at a later date.

We asked councils from across the UK how many claims they received between April 2018 and June 2021, and how many have been compensated.

A total of 43,947 pothole damage claims were made to the councils in this time. But only 13,187 claims have been compensated during the same period (less than a third).

There were over 3,000 claims made to English councils, over 7,000 made to Scottish councils, over 1,000 made to Welsh councils and over 2,000 made to Northern Irish councils.

Glasgow has experienced the greatest volume of pothole damage claims during this time, but has compensated just over 3% of these.

The table below shows the areas with the most claims made in this time period.

*Some claims may be submitted in one financial year and compensated in another, which can result in a higher volume of compensated claims than the total number of claims received.

Glasgow has experienced the greatest volume of pothole damage claims during this time, but has compensated just over 3%.

Which councils spend the most and least on road maintenance?

It’s also important to investigate how much local authorities are investing in their roads. In survey conducted in October 2021, 94% of drivers said that the Autumn Budget needed to heavily invest in fixing local roads.³

The councils in England and Wales* that have spent the most on road maintenance from April 2018 to March 2021 are:

• Liverpool – £243,919,000
• Birmingham – £240,866,000
• Cornwall – £217,368,000
• Cheshire East – £216,452,000
• Manchester – £173,979,000

The councils that spent the least amount on road maintenance were:

• Greenwich – £16,712,000
• Barking and Dagenham – £19,152,000
• Hounslow – £20,035,000
• Islington – £20,409,000
• Tameside – £25,835,000

Unsurprisingly larger council areas like Liverpool and Birmingham invest more in road maintenance than smaller council areas, given the larger number of roads within those areas.

*This data was not available by individual local authority for Scotland and Northern Ireland.

Advice on driving and potholes

If you’re driving on a road with potholes there are some ways you can try to stay safe and avoid damage to your vehicle:

1. Maintain plenty of distance from any vehicles in front of you. They may swerve or brake suddenly to avoid a pothole, and this also allows you to have good visibility of the road condition.
2. If you can see you’re approaching a pothole, try to slow down and steer away from it to avoid driving over it and potentially causing damage to your car.
3. Be particularly cautious of cyclists who need to take extra care around potholes and may therefore need to move away from the kerb and into the road to steer clear of them.

It’s difficult to avoid potholes completely when driving in the UK. So make sure you know what to do if you break down due to a pothole, and how to change a flat tyre.

Jack Cousens, head of roads policy at the AA, said: “Potholes are a frustration to all drivers and are a blight on our roads.

“While they are annoying for car drivers, potholes can be fatal to those on two wheels. As the government seeks to encourage more active travel, walking out to a moon-like surface won’t install confidence to would-be cyclists.

“For too long, both central and local governments blame each other for the lack of funding in maintaining our road surfaces. It’s time both got round the table and heavily invested in smoother, safer streets.”

If you break down, we’ll get you back on the road.

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Sources

1. FOI requests submitted to UK Councils for data on number of potholes and claims.
2. Local authority revenue expenditure and financing and local authority capital expenditure, receipts and financing.
3. AA Yonder Driver Poll, October 2021, 15,115 respondents.