Thousands of cars damaged by potholes during lockdown

July 2020

Nearly two thousand drivers had their vehicles damaged by potholes during the Coronavirus lockdown despite road traffic plummeting, according to the RAC.

Its data shows 1,766 drivers suffered pothole-related breakdowns between April and June. Government figures for the same time period show motor traffic volumes were down by as much 60%.

The RAC said drivers are now 1.5 times more likely to suffer a pothole breakdown than in 2006, when it first started collecting data.

Nicholas Lyes, RAC head of roads policy, said: ‘We would have hoped to have seen a far bigger drop in the share of pothole-related breakdowns, but instead it was just the same as usual. It is calling for revenue from car tax to be ring-fenced to pay for local roads maintenance.

Cllr David Renard, the Local Government Association’s transport spokesman, said: ‘Extra government funding has helped, but our local roads are deteriorating at a faster rate than can be repaired by councils. It would cost more than £11 billion to clear our current roads repair backlog.’

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