for pothole damage over the last five years, a BBC investigation has found. Between 2020 and 2025, local authorities received more than 18 6000 claims but only around a quarter were successful. Highland Council paid out the most at almost £600 000, followed by Dumfries and Galloway with just over half a million pounds. Cosla which represents Scotland’s councils says intense funding pressure is impacted road maintenance. The Scottish Government says it’s for councils to allocate funding.
Regulars here, and their children of at least 10 years, will wonder why we’re not seeing the yearly figures. Are they falling or disappointing for BBC Scotland in some way?
Cagily, in the fuller website version, they note:
Is the problem getting worse?
The AA recorded 5,241 pothole-related incidents in Scotland in March, an increase of almost 8% on the previous month. It said its monthly average for 2026 is tracking at 5,295 incidents, higher than in recent years.
Lewis Mennie, manager at Westhill Cars, told BBC Scotland his garage had also seen a “significant increase” in the amount of cars requiring repairs for suspension components, wheels, tyres and wheel alignment.
Why are they dancing round this? They’ve told us the total received by the councils so they know the trend.
I can’t find a Scotland-wide trend but, interestingly, Highland Council, the biggest in terms of area and pay-outs, saw massive falls from 2021 (2020 pandemic lockdowns) to 2025
https://www.highland.gov.uk/roads-pavements/roads-maintain/8
It looks worse in England. Based on just a 3 year survey, as opposed to BBC Scotland’s 5 year amounts:
Don’t they have a royal charter and editorial standards requiring them to tell us the truth.
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Talking-up Scotland 
“Potholes” was the most important news item on BBC Scotland’s website this morning. THE MOST IMPORTANT NEWS.
In a country of 5.5 million with a new parliament sworn in, in a union with a Labour government civil war raging, in a continent torn by energy costs and war, in a world plagued with vicious genocidal wars over resources – we are informed about potholes, and even then it’s a misleading spun piece of rubbish. Is this a sick joke?
In pre referendum 2014, in a phone-in to whine with Call Kaye, a road worker explained why the roads were full of potholes. In order to save money, councils were buying cheap asphalt with the more valuable bitumen removed. It could be sold off for profit. So then ice and snow cracked the repairs, then rain washed them out leaving – potholes.
This is not news about potholes. This is about thieving from the public purse to cheat us of decent roads then draining the public purse in compensation payouts. Meanwhile, someone lines their pockets with the profits from bitumen.
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It’s typical of sticking plaster Britain. The old make do and mend mentality while someone somewhere rakes in the profits. I do live in the Highlands and the roads are definitely deteriorating fast. It’s embarassing considering we are desperately trying to attract visitors, but as a driver of 6 decades, I have to say that driving is no longer a pleasure. Another problem is the use by farmers and others of ever larger tractors etc, which are too big and heavy for single track roads. A slight deviation from the road surface quickly chews up the grass verges which help to keep the roads intact so the roads quickly fall apart in the way described by Capella above. A quick patch here and there and within weeks the patches have disintegrated.
Of course, according to the unionist parties desperate to get rid of the SNP and keep us tied to a country which can’t keep a Govt together without some upheaval for more than a couple of years or less, it’s all the fault of the SNP. The truth is, as I have posted elsewhere, according to various reports, UK Govts over many decades have starved English Councils and therefore, presumably, devolved Govts through the Barnett formula, of funds to the extent that they only receive enough resources to resurface all their roads, on average, once every 75 – 100 years in England and Wales! Not sure what the equivalent figures for Scotland would be.
When you consider how many £billions UK motorists and other road users plough into the Treasury annually – possibly as much as £40billion – it’s a disgrace.
J & J
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