Motorists earn more than £50,000 in pothole payouts

Council forced to payout thousands

Motorists were handed more than £50,000 in compensation last year after having their vehicles damaged by potholes across the county.

A total of £54,098 was given to road users who saw their vehicles and cycles damaged by unrepaired potholes.

The figure, which relates to 2014/5, was released by Cambridgeshire County Council as a result of a Freedom Of Information (FOI) request.

But the amount handed back to claimants was nowhere near as significant as the total spend required to patch and repair potholes in the same year.

Almost £1m was spent on repairing potholes while nearly £2m was paid out to patch them. The council were, however, helped by cash from the Department of Transport’s Pothole Grant which accounted for a further £2m.

Just over £500,000 was provided by the one-off Severe Weather Recovery Fund.

CCC urge motorists and cyclists to report any potholes via their website.

Claimants should obtain a full break down of costs for all damage caused by a pothole. If costs are incurred, motorists are advised to keep a breakdown of but any unrealistic or extravagant claims are likely to promote a negative response.

Any compensation claim will also take a while to be processed, and claimants might not be able get all the costs back.