Snow causes £10bn pot hole repair bill

If you thought the nightmare driving conditions were finally over when the snow melted - think again. Britain has been left with a whooping £10 billion repair bill and a pothole approx every 120 yards. 

It is estimated that the dramatic rise in the number of potholes will cost the Government and local authorities more than £1 million a day. Experts have also estimated that it will take more than 15 years to fix Britain’s decaying roads.

The Local Government Association, which represents local authorities in England and Wales, yesterday wrote to the Department of Transport, pleading for £100million in emergency Government funding to carry out the most urgent of repairs.

The number of craters on Britain’s 246,000 miles of secondary roads has increased 700,000 in the past two years alone, leaving the total potholes requiring repair to more than 1.6 million.

Potholes and craters are caused by wet weather, combined with freezing conditions, destroying the tarmac. Ice then seeps into the road, expands and the enormous pressure splits the bitumen.

Last year the short cold snap caused the number of potholes to rise by nearly a third and cost local authorities almost £50 in compensation claims for injury and damage.

But it isn’t just the Government who has to foot the bill for the recent cold snap. Drivers whose vehicles are damaged by potholes face an average repair bill of £240, a recent survey disclosed.

Cllr David Sparks, Chair of the Local Government Association Transport Board, said councils spend millions to ensure that roads were safe and potholes filled.

“The latest cold weather means that they are working flat out to fill in the ones created during the last month of freezing weather,” he said.

“After the snow comes the repairs and councils are working flat out to keep drivers safe by fixing the holes as quickly as possible.”

Get interactive by following Car Press on Facebook and Twitter

Donna Kelly

05/02/2010