Action is called for to end nation’s potholes disgrace
SCOTLAND’S councils are paying out millions of pounds to motorists whose cars have been damaged by potholes.
New figures show cash-strapped local authorities spend £1,479 a day on settling claims.
Scotland’s road network has been called a “national embarrassment” with critics demanding a huge cash injection to patch it up.
Figures obtained by the Scottish Tories show that motorists were handed £358,749 in 2013-14, with the five-year total now standing at £2.7million.
The true cost of repairing vehicles damaged on our dilapidated roads is thought to be much higher, as several councils did not respond.
Many of our roads are a national embarrassment
Many drivers do not claim compensation, or are not able to narrow down which pothole caused the problem.
Conservative transport spokesman Alex Johnstone repeated calls for the Scottish Government to establish a pothole fund. The UK Government has announced that £6billion will be spent on filling in the holes and improving local roads south of the Border between 2015 and 2021.
Mr Johnstone said: “It is often a frustrating and lengthy process for motorists to claim compensation for damage caused to their cars on public roads.
“If roads were better maintained in the first place then this unnecessary cost to the public purse would be greatly minimised. Many of our roads are a national embarrassment and it’s time the SNP ended its piecemeal approach to road maintenance and came up with a longer-term strategy.
“A pothole fund would be a major step forward in helping councils to finally get our roads up to a better standard to benefit motorists across the country.”
Glasgow has paid out £1.4million in compensation – by far the highest amount in Scotland – since 2009.
Elsewhere, Renfrewshire Council settled almost £200,000 worth of claims, Dumfries and Galloway paid £117,000 and Edinburgh £92,000.
Research by the AA in 2011 warned that Scotland’s roads are “plagued with potholes”.
Drivers were dealing with an average of 20.1 per neighbourhood – well above the UK average of 14.9, the AA said at the time.
An AA spokesman said last night: “A lot of the roads need to be relaid rather than being patched up, as many of the potholes will just reappear a year later.”
A Scottish Government spokeswoman said: “Despite the UK Government’s cuts to the Scottish Budget, local government has been treated very fairly.
“The local government finance settlement now amounts to £10.8billion in 2014-15 and, with extra money for additional responsibilities, this will increase to almost £10.85billion in 2015-16 with all councils receiving their fair share which will allow them to provide the local services, including the maintenance of local roads, that people need and rely upon.”
