Potholes are costing UK authorities more in pay-outs to deal with the damage they cause than it would cost to fix them, the shadow transport minister has said.

Jim Fitzpatrick said it would be cheaper for the government to repair roads than to let councils continue to pay out for damages.

In the Commons, Mr Fitzpatrick turned to Road Safety Minister Stephen Hammond, saying: “The National Audit Office calculates that it would be cheaper to repair our roads than the cost of dealing with the damage and injuries caused by potholes.”

Last month the head of the AA had his car wrecked by potholes just days after releasing a survey which showed one third of AA members had suffered damage to their cars from potholes in the last two years.

AA president Edmund King was filling his Mercedes E-Class with petrol when the whole front of the vehicle collapsed after a front spring became damaged, which the mechanic told him was due to wear and tear from potholes.

Sign up to our free newsletters

Get the best updates straight to your inbox:
Please select at least one mailing list.

You can unsubscribe at any time by clicking the link in the footer of our emails. We use Mailchimp as our marketing platform. By subscribing, you acknowledge that your information will be transferred to Mailchimp for processing.