From the Guardian today:
Exactly how many holes there are in the country’s roads depends on who’s counting and how they define them, but the RAC reckons there are a million potholes in the UK’s residential, city centre and rural roads, or six every mile. Its data backs up anecdotal evidence that things are getting a lot worse, quickly: compensation claims for pothole damage against UK local authorities rose by 90% in the three years to 2024. More than three times as many drivers cited potholes as the cause of breakdowns in February 2025 than in the same month a year earlier.
Yet, in Scotland compensation claims are falling. See this from BBC Scotland, just last week:
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. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c99l45ge738o
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:
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