Beast from the east blamed for spike in pothole compensation claims

With more freezing conditions predicted for next week, figures released by the Highways England in accordance with a freedom of information request showed 1089 people submitted claims for

compensation connected with damage to their vehicles caused by bumps in the road, more than twice the previous year's total of 542. In addition, Highways England paid out in 518 of

these cases - considerably more than the 212 times they did so in the previous year. At the same time Highways England spent slightly less on repairs (£209.3million) than they did in 2016/17

when they splashed out £214.3m.  Despite spending less, Highways England also repaired significantly more potholes with 16,642 compared with 10,848 the previous year. Highways England told 

Express.co.uk the worsened situation was directly related to the terrible weather conditions, with heavy snow and driving rains in December 2017 as well as February 2018, when the Beast

lashed Britain. A Highways England spokesperson said: “Safety is our top priority and we know that good quality road surface is important to the 4 million drivers that use our roads each

day. "We set stringent standards for pothole repairs on our roads, and also regularly inspect our roads to help reduce the potential for potholes to form.  "Since April 2015 we

have resurfaced over 3,000 miles of our network and plan to resurface over 1,000 miles this financial year.” The spokesman pointed out Highways England was responsible for 4,300 miles of

road. This equates to three percent of all roads in England, yet which carries 33 percent of all traffic in England. It has a £15 billion, £6 billion of which is earmarked for maintenance

budget, out of which comes money to undertake pothole repairs. According to guidelines, potholes wider than 15 cm (6 inches) diameter, or deeper than 4cm (1.5 inches) or the road surface

thickness, should be rectified within 24 hours of being identified. The spokesman added: "The public rightly expects safe and high quality roads and our most recent assessment in

December shows that over 95 per cent of England’s motorways and major A roads are in good condition. "Highways England identifies defects on the network which need attention through

regular safety inspections undertaken by service providers and through reports from road users.  "These defects are then categorised and the organisation aims to repair the most serious

ones within 24 hours.  "However, there will be times when there has been insufficient time to react and safely carry out a carriageway repair before the pothole is encountered by other

drivers. "In these circumstances we aim to address the defect at the nearest available opportunity." He added Highways England also undertook full road condition surveys across

its entire network every year. The results of these used to identify resurfacing requirements. This includes road surface maintenance which ranges from renewing road markings, localised

minor repairs to replacement of the road surface to the full reconstruction of the road structure.