MOTORING recovery firm the RAC attended nearly 30,000 incidents related to damage caused by potholes in 2023.

The firm revealed patrols assisted 29,377 people a breakdowns in 2023 related to potholes, up by a third (33%) on 2022 and the equivalent of 80 a day.

Faults included broken suspension springs, damaged shock absorbers and distorted wheels.

Between October and December, the RAC was called out to 5,153 breakdowns caused by potholes, the highest amount for the period since 2017.

And, the company warned the problem is only likely to get worse in the colder months of ‘pothole season’ – January to March – when water makes its way into cracks in the road, freezes and expands, causing surfaces to deteriorate even more.

The RAC Pothole Index, which has tracked the condition of Britain’s roads since 2006, now stands at 1.70, up from 1.62 at the end of 2022.

While this is nowhere near the all-time high of 3.5 recorded in Q1 2010, at 1.7 the index suggests drivers are more than one-and-a-half times as likely to experience pothole damage as they were 15 years ago.

It comes after an RAC survey in November last year revealed the condition of UK roads was the biggest concern of drivers.

RAC head of policy, Simon Williams, said: “The cracks in Britain’s road maintenance system have once again been embarrassingly exposed as nearly 30,000 RAC members endured pothole problems and potentially very costly repairs in 2023.

“Potholes are so much more than an irritation – they are a very serious danger to all road users which we fear will only get worse as the weather gets colder during these next few months.

“Councils have been cash-strapped for years due to lower road maintenance budgets, causing roads across the country to fall into disrepair and leaving drivers fighting for compensation when their vehicles are inevitably damaged.

“Fortunately, the Government has committed an extra £8.3bn of funding to local councils over the next 11 years, which we hope will give squeezed authorities some certainty of cash to help them plan consistent longer-term maintenance.”

In November last year, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak unveiled £8.3bn to tackle the ‘scourge of potholes’.

The Department for Transport said councils would get an extra £150m for repairs in 2023, 2024 and 2025, with the rest coming over the next decade.