Almost a million potholes have been recorded by local authorities on Britain’s roads each year since 2015 with an astonishing 1,088,965 potholes being reported in 2016. This data was obtained following a Freedom of Information request by Yorkshire-based insurance provider The Insurance Emporium to 205 local authorities, 175 of whom responded.
Revealing the best and worst places in the UK for potholes since 2015, this research also looked at the incidence of injury and damage claims made against local authorities by cyclists who came a cropper on potholes whilst out on the road.
During 2017-18, some 335 pothole damage and injury claims were filed against local authorities. Personal and dental injuries to cyclists accounted for 16% of these, and damage to the bike 26%. The chances of successfully claiming for damage or injury after hitting a pothole seem pretty low however, with just 9% prevailing.
Cheshire East Council had the highest overall number of claims made against it for pothole-related damage and injury – 46 such claims since 2015. Hampshire County Council was next highest at 37. Manchester City Council and Tower Hamlets Council came third highest with 30 claims each.
The City of Edinburgh Council was UK’s overall pothole capital, with 73 potholes per km of road being reported on average from January 2015 to April 2018***. Several local authorities in Yorkshire also had high pothole numbers on their roads, with Kirklees Council, Sheffield City Council and East Riding of Yorkshire Council in the UK’s top 10 worst locations for potholes. By contrast, London and Greater London generally had impressively low pothole numbers as did several small islands such as the Isles of Scilly and Shetland.
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