Sutton taxpayers spend up to £300 thousand to fix potholes

A new report by GoCompare, car insurance comparison site, reveals which UK cities and regions have the most potholes by using Freedom of Information (FOI) requests, sent to 67 councils, to reveal the biggest offenders.

Sutton are one of the UK’s fastest councils to repair potholes.

A staggering 39,810 potholes are reported each year in the UK, a number that is constantly rising.

Although Sutton reported a 1,744 potholes between 2018-20, they were one of the fastest councils for average days between report and repair of potholes - averaging at 12.7 days. They fell just behind the York and the Humber who had an average of 6.6 days.

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Residents are encouraged to report potholes to the council as soon as they spot them.

Liverpool took the longest with an average of 191 days during the same time period to repair potholes once they had been reported.

Of the 29 councils who responded to the FOI request, the biggest spenders include Cornwall, home to Newquay (£9.56m), and Wolverhampton (£7.47m).

However, Kent, home to Maidstone, spent the most pounds per pothole with £10.5m on resurfacing roads, £400,000 more than they had done the year before.

The UK’s councils have spent a combined total of £99m on fixing potholes in 2020.

Drivers can choose to claim for pothole damage on their car insurance but can also claim from the council, or authority, responsible for maintaining the road where the pothole damage occurred.

To report a pothole, visit Sutton Council's website here.