North Lincolnshire Council pays out £40k in pothole damage compensation in four years

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North Lincolnshire Council has paid out in the last four years more than £40,000 in compensation to drivers for vehicles damaged by potholes.

With the exception of motorways, some A-roads, and private, unadopted roads, local authorities are responsible for the maintenance of most roads in any given area. Drivers whose vehicles are directly damaged by a poorly maintained, pothole-riddled road, can try to claim compensation from the local council.

There were 135 successful claims made against the council for pothole-inflicted vehicle damage, from 2020/21 to 2023/24. The year with the greatest number of successful claims, 57, was 2023/24.

In total, £42,874.29 has been paid out in pothole compensation by North Lincolnshire Council in the last four years. This works out at an average of £317.58 compensation per successful claim.

Many others are unsuccessful. 410 claims have been made in the last four years to the council, 141 in 2023/24. There were 17 ongoing claims as of October 31 from the 2020/21 to 2023/24 period, 15 from the last completed financial year.

A North Lincolnshire Council spokesperson said: “1.14 billion vehicle miles were travelled on roads in North Lincolnshire in 2023 alone, which inevitably takes its toll on road surfaces. To combat this wear and tear and make journeys safer and smoother for everyone we invest more than £13 million pounds every year to maintain and improve the road network.

“As well as tackling potholes this also includes major re-surfacing programmes, that many residents are already seeing the benefits of.”

The wider pothole picture

Lincolnshire County Council, covering a much wider area, has paid out a considerable amount in pothole compensation in recent years. It paid out £666,319.37 for last year alone, and more than £4m since 2018. There were 1,780 requests for pothole compensation last year. North East Lincolnshire, more geographically contained, has paid £3,207.23 compensation in the last three financial years.

Winterton High Street in August 2023, after extensive resurfacing works addressed potholes
(Image: Donna Clifford/GrimsbyLive)

Councils have generally become more stringent about paying out pothole compensation. FOI data obtained by the Liberal Democrats and reported on by The Telegraph found compensation paid by 85 councils fell from £3.7m to £1.7m between 2019-20 and 2022-23.

AA president Edmund King told Highways Magazine in February that councils had tightened criteria. A Local Government Association (LGA) spokesperson said each claim is “robustly judged on its own merits and in accordance to the law”. Almost 630,000 potholes were reported to councils in England, Scotland and Wales, in January to November 2023.

The Chancellor Rachel Reeves announced in her budget an extra £500m to fix over a million potholes. North Lincolnshire, North East Lincolnshire and Lincolnshire County councils are working on a two year plan linked to future Local Transport Fund 2025-2032 cash. Each area is getting around £120m. The future Greater Lincolnshire mayoral combined authority will have power over strategic transport policy.

Two years ago, North Lincolnshire Council acquired a special pothole-busting machine, which became christened Phil. It repaired more than 5,000 square metres of North Lincolnshire road in its first seven weeks.

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Original artice: https://www.grimsbytelegraph.co.uk/all-about/scunthorpe

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North Lincolnshire Council pays out £40k in pothole damage compensation in four years

The wider pothole picture

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