Scotland pays out £1.7m in pothole compensation
Friday 06 Jan 2012 | By Gosh Media
Statistics published by the Scottish Conservatives following a Freedom of Information request show that potholes in Scotland have cost local authorities there more than £1.7 million in vehicle damage compensation.
The figures, which cover the last five years, come in the wake of a recent study by the AA, which showed that Scotland has a higher number of potholes per road mile than any other area of the UK. Perhaps this is not surprising, given that those north of the border experience much more severe weather. Indeed, two harsh winters have left many Scottish roads in a poor state. The sad fact is that many roads across the UK are plagued with potholes, even before any freezing winter conditions take their toll on them. Of course, pothole damage is annoying and expensive for drivers but much more worrying is the fact that potholes can prove fatal for motorcyclists.
The AA survey, conducted in October 2011, saw some 1000 AA 'Streetwatchers' walk around their neighbourhoods for an hour to make a note of nine types of road and path issues. The results showed an average pothole count per Streetwatcher of 14.9, compared to 12.5 potholes the previous year. The AA defined a pothole as being at least six inches in diameter and at least two inches in depth. The survey results demonstrate that councils across the UK are struggling to tackle the pothole problem and appear to be merely patching up roads that are suffering from years of inadequate repairs funding.
The AA report found that Scotland and the North East had the most potholes, averaging 20.1 and 19.0 per neighbourhood respectively - compared to the national average of 14.9.
Scottish local authorities paid out the princely sum of £1,738,966 in compensation for pothole damage between the years 2006/07 and 2010/11.
Glasgow City Council, the largest local authority, came top of the list with payments totalling over £355,000 over the five years, with the highest annual figure being £197,000 in 2010/11 - compared to under £20,000 in 2007/08. In contrast, Western Isles Council has apparently paid out nothing for pothole damage over the five-year period.
Jackson Carlaw MSP, Deputy Leader of the Scottish Conservatives, commented, "This is an astonishing level of compensation paid out by local authorities in Scotland to motorists and the £2m bill is just the tip of the iceberg, as there will be many motorists who won't have claimed for damage from their local authorities. Furthermore," he continued, "the compensation bill is only part of the cost of dealing with the claims as councils will spend vast sums of time and money dealing with each individual claim. The shocking state of our roads is a reality that every motorist and councillor knows only too well and that is why we proposed a Road Maintenance Fund in the recent Scottish elections to help fix the problem."
Commenting on the Streetwatch results at the end of last year, Edmund King, AA President, said, "The AA Streetwatch volunteers have once again shown that the UK has a pothole plague which has not gone away despite extra repairs this year. Highways authorities need to get to grips with the pothole problem, as compensation claims will soar when cold weather strikes and roads start breaking up again, placing greater burdens on already strained budgets."