Pothole lawyers cost councils £53m
10 October 2008
- More spent on compensation than repairs
- No-win, no-fee lawyers are to blame, say leaders
- Money would be better spent on fixing holes
Councils are paying out more in pothole compensation claims than they are spending on fixing the cracks in Britain’s roads.
As a result, council leaders are calling for legislation to fight what they see as a compensation culture created by no-win, no-fee lawyers.
Councils argue that the £53 million paid out to motorists in compensation last year could have been better spent repairing an extra 946,429 potholes.
According to the Local Government Association, which represents more than 400 councils in England and Wales, staff also spent 40,801 days dealing with the claims, or the equivalent of 111 years.
David Sparks, chairman of the Local Government Association’s Transport and Regeneration Board, said: 'Getting people safely from A to B is at the top of every council’s agenda. These figures show the extent to which our efforts are being hampered by the compensation culture that exists nowadays.
'There’s a real fear that no-win, no-fee lawyers are clogging up the system with spurious claims from people just chancing their arm. Tightening the law would help put a stop to this.'
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