Council pothole compensation claims double in a year

A Freedom of Information request to 21 councils – covering nearly 92,200 miles of local roads – found that of the 18 that responded, Surrey County Council saw the biggest increase in claims, from 734 in 2022 to 3,418 in 2023. Hampshire County Council was a close second, where claims jumped from 750 in 2022 to 2,654 last year, followed by Gloucestershire County Council, where claims rose from 257 in 2022 to 829 in 2023.

Despite the huge rise in year-on-year claims, 17 councils paid out just 15% (3,131) of the 20,432 claims submitted by drivers in 2023. The RAC estimates this equates to a total of around £824,000 paid out at an average of just £260 per claim. This is around 43% less than the amount drivers can expect to pay – up to around £460 – if their car needs to be fixed for anything more serious than a puncture, according to RAC garage data.^2/3/4

Five councils refused nine-in-10 pothole claims in 2023

The data shows that the chances of making a successful claim for pothole compensation are very limited, as 76% (13) of the 17 councils that paid drivers any compensation for pothole damage refused more than three-quarters of the claims they received in 2023.

And, according to the FOI data shared with the RAC, five councils refused nine-in-10 pothole claims in 2023. Gloucestershire County Council refused 98% of its 829 claims; Essex County Council refused 95% of its 2,560 claims; Kent and Cornwall Councils both refused 92% of their 1,884 and 407 respective claims and Powys County Council refused 90% of its 107 claims.

Surrey refused the greatest number of pothole compensation claims last year, turning down 86% (2,954) of the 3,418 claims it received in 2023.

Only Shropshire Council paid more than 30% of the compensation claims it received, paying 68% of its 546 claims in 2023.

The numbers also show that as pothole damage claims have increased, the proportion of claims refused by councils has risen slowly too. Between 2021 to 2023, the average number of claims refused has risen by five percentage points, from 76% to 81%.

Councils refused seven-in-10 claims because they didn’t know potholes were there

The RAC also asked councils how many claims for compensation they refused due to the authority saying it was not aware of the existence of the potholes in question, under Section 58 2d of the Highways Act 1980. Of the 8,172 compensation claims refused by the nine councils that provided data for this question, an overwhelming majority – 74% (6,028) – were refused on Section 58 grounds in total.^5/6

Gloucestershire and Hertfordshire councils both stated that every single claim (100%) they refused was because they did not know that a particular pothole existed.

Claims per mile of road

Looking at the number of claims per mile of road, for which 18 councils provided data, Surrey received the equivalent of one pothole claim for every single mile of its 3,410-mile road network – 3,418 total claims in 2023. Hampshire, Essex and Hertfordshire all received a pothole claim for every two miles of their respective 5,641, 5,188 and 3,110 miles of roads. Hampshire had 2,654 claims, Essex 2,560 and Hertfordshire received 1,914 in 2023. 

Kent and Lincolnshire had claims for every three miles of their 5,822 and 5,559-mile networks, with a total of 1,884 and 1,771 respective claims each. Meanwhile Gloucestershire had claims for every four miles of its 3,496-mile stretch, totalling 829 claims last year.

£166,000 spent in legal fees to defend compensation claims

The results also show that last year, 13 of the 18 councils that provided Freedom of Information data to the RAC paid out more than £166,000 in legal fees to defend pothole claims from drivers.⁷

Lincolnshire County Council spent nearly £96,000 defending itself against some of the 1,771 pothole claims it received in 2023. Devon County Council was the second biggest spender, although at a much lower fee of £33,232, while Essex County Council spent almost £20,000 (£19,685). The fee total then drops below £10,000 for all other authorities.⁸

RAC head of policy Simon Williams said: “These findings are a stark reminder that the ongoing poor condition of many of the UK’s local roads is burning holes in the budgets of both local authorities and drivers. 

“While some councils appeared to prioritise paying legal fees over settling pothole claims, the cost in time and money of defending claims appears to far outweigh the expense of reimbursing drivers for the damage done to their vehicle in the first place. Even if a driver successfully pursued compensation, the average sum paid out of £260 is often well below the cost to fix a pothole-damaged car, for anything more serious than a punctured tyre.

“When it comes to the true extent of the problem, we may only be seeing the tip of the iceberg, as almost the same number of councils refused to tell us why they threw out pothole claims compared to those that did. We strongly urge drivers to inform councils about any potholes they are aware of, either via the RAC’s website or using the free Stan app which collects data on the state of UK roads.

“We have long argued that local authorities need greater certainty of funding so they can tackle to the root cause of the UK’s pothole plague. For this reason, we’re pleased they’ll receive £500m to soon start the process of improving their road networks. It’s vital that this money is used by councils not to merely fill potholes, but to carry out preventative maintenance – through surface dressing roads at regular intervals to stop roads falling apart in the first place. Roads that are beyond reasonable repair should be resurfaced.”

^{1 Based on a Freedom of Information request to councils in March 2024. The question asked to each authority was “How many claims for pothole-related damage did the council receive from drivers?” in 2019, 2021, 2022 and 2023. 18 councils provided data for this question. Based on the same FOI request. Question asked: “How many claims resulted in the council paying out to drivers (i.e. the number of successful pothole-related damage claims recorded)?” in 2019, 2021, 2022 and 2023. Only 17 of the 18 councils that responded to the FOI provided data for this question, excluding Northumberland}

^{2 Based on the same FOI request. Question asked: “What is the average sum that was paid out to drivers per claim?” in 2019, 2021, 2022 and 2023}

^{3 According to RAC garage data from December 2023}

^{4 Based on the same FOI request. Question asked: “How many claims for compensation (property/vehicle damage or injury) were refused due to your authority not knowing about the existence of a particular pothole i.e. using Section 58 2d of the Highways Act 1980 'Special defence in action against a highway authority for damages for non-repair of highway' which states: 'whether the highway authority knew, or could reasonably have been expected to know, that the condition of the part of the highway to which the action relates was likely to cause danger to users of the highway'” in 2019, 2021, 2022 and 2023}

^{5 Of the 21 councils asked this question, only nine provided data - Kent, Hampshire, Highland, Cornwall, Suffolk, Derbyshire, Gloucestershire, Shropshire and Hertfordshire. The rest said calculations exceeded appropriate costs or the data wasn’t recorded}

^{6 Based on the same FOI request. Question asked: “How much has the council paid in legal fees to defend pothole claims from drivers?” in 2019, 2021, 2022 and 2023. 10 councils responded: Devon, Hampshire, Lincolnshire, North Yorkshire, Essex, Cornwall, Gloucestershire, Surrey, Shropshire and Hertfordshire}

^{7 Essex’s fees relate to external legal costs and do not include its in-house legal team’s costs, as these are not recorded}