The RAC has revealed it has attended highest number of second quarter pothole-related breakdowns since 2018.
New figures from the RAC released today (24/7), show its patrols went out to more than 8,100 pothole breakdowns between April and June 2023.
It is the breakdown company's highest number in five years, since the ‘Beast from the East’ cold snap plunged much of the UK into a deep freeze with heavy snowfall.
The figures released show that between 30 June 2022 and 30 June 2023, 27,250 breakdowns occurred where vehicles had been damaged by a pothole - a 20% increase on the the 12 months before.
The RAC Pothole Index has revealed that motorists are now over 1.6 times more likely to break down due to the repeated wear caused by potholes than 17 years ago.
A Freedom of Information request made by the RAC also reveals councils have forked out more than £11m over the last four years to drivers who successfully claimed their vehicles had been damaged by potholes.
RAC head of roads policy Nicholas Lyes said: “Drivers won’t be surprised to hear pothole-related breakdowns are at their highest level for five years due to several spells of well below-average temperatures interspersed with some very wet conditions last winter.
"These conditions led to water getting into cracks, freezing and expanding which caused road surfaces to deteriorate rapidly as vehicles drove over them. But despite these perfect pothole-forming conditions, it’s also important to note that last winter wasn’t particularly harsh which demonstrates very clearly just how fragile our local roads really are.
“The fact councils are paying out money to drivers whose vehicles suffered pothole damage is another damning indictment of the state of our roads. In an ideal world where roads are in a fit-for-purpose state they wouldn’t need to be doing this at all."
At the beginning of this year, Milton Keynes City Council announced £3.5 million had been put forward to fix roads and potholes during its budget proposals.
49 potholes on average were planned to be filled in each day between April and December.
MKFM reached out to Milton Keynes City Council who were able to give us statistics on road repairs throughout 2022/23.
The City Council records the number of potholes under 'road defects' which also includes a range of issues such as oil/diesel spills, faded roadmarkings, missing bollards and damaged drains included in the figures.
In the 2022 to 2023 period, Milton Keynes City Council has received 6022 reports of road defects.
14,480 repairs to defects have been made in total, including 5644 from received reports. The remaining 8,836 were included in resurfacing/plane and patching works during 22/23.
Stats from Milton Keynes City Council show how many repairs were made at the beginning of the year, with 260 made in January, 444 in February and 531 in March.
Information on potholes can be found on the City Council website.
