Pothole damage claim: how to get compensated and report a pothole

You don’t have to travel far on UK roads before you notice the poor state they’re in. 

This is backed up by some eye-opening statistics from The Asphalt Industry Alliance (AIA) and its 2024 ALARM report, which found that just 47% of roads in England and Wales were in good structural condition, with the backlog of repairs estimated to cost a record high £16.3 billion.

Meanwhile, councils and road authorities across Britain are paying out record levels of compensation to drivers, with £25.6 million awarded in 2023/24 for pothole damage alone – an increase of 57% compared with the previous year. 

Along with this, it has been estimated that pothole damage has cost drivers an average of £460 per repair in 2023, with punctures, wheel damage and broken suspension springs being the most common problem areas, according to the RAC.

Then there’s the issue of safety, with the AA reporting 480,000 pothole-related breakdowns in the first nine months of 2024. In September alone, its patrols attended 50,244 incidents – an increase of 4% year-on-year and the highest on record since 2017.

How to claim for pothole damage

If your car is damaged and the local authority hasn’t cared for the road properly, you can make a claim from the council for pothole damage compensation. Here’s how you can do that:

1. Gather evidence

As soon as possible, take photographs of the pothole. If the road isn’t too busy and it’s safe to do so, measure the width and depth of the pothole, too.

2. Make a report

Let the relevant local authority know about the pothole, including the date and time that it caused damage to your car as soon as possible. You can use websites such as potholes.co.uk or fillthathole.org.uk, or contact the council responsible for the road directly. Tell them the place, road name or number, and let them have contact details of any witnesses to the damage. Send the photos and measurements you have taken too.

3. Find out when the road was last inspected by the council

Do this by submitting a Freedom of Information request to the authority responsible for the road (most likely the local council, but major roads are the responsibility of Highways England, Transport Scotland or the Welsh Government). This evidence will be useful if your claim is rejected.

4. Make your case

Write to the local authority concerned, explaining in clear, polite but firm terms why you think it is responsible for the damage to your car; remember it’s their legal responsibility to maintain the road network. Give full details of the incident that led to the damage, and point out any other relevant information, such as if the road has not been inspected by the council for a long time, if you have this information.

5. Be rational

If your claim is rejected, try to be objective. Does the authority have a solid defence under section 58 of the Highways Act 1980? This gives authorities the right not to pay out if they have taken reasonable measures to regularly inspect roads and repair them if necessary. If the council has followed the national code of practice then your claim may fail. If it hasn’t, however, stick to your guns.

How to report potholes – who is responsible for repairing potholes

You can report a pothole via the dedicated UK Government ‘report a pothole’ website, where you can input the postcode of the location of the pothole. This will then take you to the appropriate council website, where you can fill out an online form and supply details of the pothole as well as photos.

If the road is a motorway or A-road, you can contact Highways England to let them know. You can do this by emailing info@highwaysengland.co.uk or calling 0300 123 5000.

If you live in Northern Ireland or Scotland, you can report potholes by marking them on a map in Northern Ireland or by selecting a local council in Scotland.

Making a claim in England

London red routes

If the road is a red route, you can contact Transport for London about compensation by calling Transport for London (TfL) customer services on 0343 222 1234.

Most A-roads and motorways

If National Highways manages the road your car was damaged on, you can contact National Highways to claim compensation.

Other English roads

If your car was damaged on any other English road, you can contact the local council that manages the road to ask about compensation. You can see which council manages the road if you know the postcode where your vehicle was damaged. You can also report a problem with a road to alert other drivers via fixmystreet.com.

The Royal Mail’s postcode finder service can help you find the correct postcode.

Making a claim in Scotland

Most A-roads and motorways (‘trunk roads’)

The trunk road and motorway network in Scotland is managed and maintained by BEAR Scotland and Amey. If your claim relates to routes in the north west and south east, you will need to contact BEAR Scotland. If your claim relates to routes in the south west and north east, you can contact Amey.

Other Scottish roads

If your car was damaged on other Scottish roads, you can contact the local council via the dedicated Scottish Government ‘report a pothole’ website and claim compensation.

Making a claim in Wales

Most A-roads and motorways (‘trunk roads’)

If your car was damaged on a road managed by Traffic Wales, you can contact Traffic Wales for compensation by calling customer services on 0300 123 1213.

Other Welsh roads

If your car was damaged on other Welsh roads, you can contact the local council via the dedicated Welsh Government ‘report a pothole’ website and claim compensation.

Making a claim in Northern Ireland

You can apply online to the Department for Infrastructure to claim compensation for all types of roads in Northern Ireland.

How to claim on car insurance for pothole damage

Instead of claiming for pothole damage through the council responsible for the road, you can also claim through your car insurance in much the same way as any other claim. You’ll need to contact your insurer and provide them with full details of the damage, which includes photographic evidence of the damage and the pothole, as well as the date and time the damage occurred.

However, it’s worth noting the financial reparations might not be as large as what you could receive from the council, because you will have to pay excess to make the claim. What’s more, making a claim could also affect your no claims bonus, which means you might have to pay higher premiums in the future.

One benefit of claiming through your car insurance is speed of receiving compensation, because claiming through the council can vary from a few weeks to more than six months. This depends on the council, though, so it’s worth checking this.

How to spot pothole damage to my car

If you hit a pothole, there are several areas you can check if it has caused damage. This includes looking at:

Tyres

• Check for punctures or bulges

• The tyre pressure warning light might appear on the dashboard if there is a sudden loss of pressure

• If the tyre is damaged you may risk a sudden blowout, so seek expert advice regarding a replacement. Our latest tyre test reveals the best tyres on sale.

Wheels

• Check for dents, cracks or buckling

• Sometimes, the wheels can be damaged in areas you can’t see, so it’s worth getting the wheels checked by a tyre shop if you suspect there is an issue

Suspension

• Listen for knocks or bangs. You might also feel vibrations through the steering wheel if there is a problem

• Look out for excessive bouncing over undulated roads

• Check the wheel alignment

Steering

• Check for difficulty turning the wheel or pulling to one side when braking

• If the suspension is damaged, the steering wheel might be off-centre – even if the wheels are straight

• If the wheels are out of balance or alignment, the steering wheel will vibrate at speed

How is a pothole caused

Most potholes are caused by bad weather, particularly when it’s wet and very cold. When water gets into a crack in the road surface and freezes, it expands, making the cracks bigger. Repeat the process a few times and eventually the small imperfections turn into potholes. So the harsher the winter, the worse the pothole problem becomes.

The AIA is adamant, though, that there should be no blaming harsh winters or heavy rain. It said: "A decent, well-made road will throw back anything the British climate can throw at it. Just look at the roads in Scandinavia, which deal with more extreme weather and yet don’t break up. The reason our roads don’t cope is years and years of chronic underfunding. It’s the legacy of a lack of investment."

Another issue that can cause a pothole is poor resurfacing, because the freeze-thaw-effect can easily cause a pothole to return very quickly, especially if the pothole has not been filled in properly. Replacing the entire road surface at regular intervals is a more effective way of guarding against water ingress and freeze-thaw effects, because this creates a waterproof seal on the road which enhances the overall resilience. This level of maintenance is expensive though, particularly compared with filling-in individual potholes.

What’s being done to fix the pothole problem?

In October 2023, the Government announced an additional £8.3 billion investment in road repairs in England between 2024 and 2034, while the current Labour Government has pledged an additional £320 million on top of this in England over the next five years. This extra funding was sourced from the cancelled second leg of the HS2 railway project, as well as the deferral of the new A27 bypass in Arundel, West Sussex.

Despite the extra funding, there is a concern that this will only be enough to cover the additional costs caused by inflation, and the AIA has suggested there is also an imbalance between the investment in new roads, motorways and other major routes and local authorities’ road budgets.

"Local roads make up 98% of the network and carry two-thirds of the traffic," said a spokesperson. "Yet the amount local authorities will get from the Government’s capital funding programme is vastly lower than the amount Highways England will get for the strategic roads network."

Whatever the split in the roads budget between major routes and roads maintained by local councils, spending the available cash wisely is key. That means less firefighting, and more planning. The AIA describes this as an "invest to save" approach that authorities can put into practice with an asset management plan.

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