Surrey tops pothole chart

* Surrey tops pothole table * Council slams survey as 'absurd' * It says the true figure is much higher...

Surrey tops pothole chart

Surrey is the most pothole-riddled county in the UK with reports of 1998 holes, according to a survey by Kia.

The manufacturer revealed Hampshire as the second-worst-afflicted area, with 892 reports of potholes, while Kent ranked third with 857.

Surrey not impressed
Surrey County Council rubbished the report. 'The results of this survey are so inaccurate they are absurd,' said a spokesman.

'Kia claims Surrey has 1998 potholes and other counties in Britain have even less this is pure nonsense.

'In Surrey we have fixed around 15,000 road defects including potholes since the recent bad weather alone.'

The council is calling for more cash to invest in long-term improvements in the road network rather than patchwork emergency repairs. It argues that proper investment in Surrey's roads over the previous 15 years would have encouraged more business growth and earned the Government 750 million more in tax each year.

Claim for pothole damage
Authorities have a duty of care to maintain carriageways so, in theory, you can claim compensation for damage caused to your car by potholes. Here's how:

Take a date-stamped picture of the pothole, with something to show the diameter of the hole. Take another picture of the damage caused to your car. Send these, with written estimates for the cost of repairs, to the relevant council (the county council or London borough).

In reality, however, the amount that councils have paid in compensation has shrunk dramatically. The Annual Local Authority Road Maintenance Survey estimates payouts peaked at 121 million in 2002, but have since fallen to just 22.1 million in 2009.

UK's top 10 pothole hotspots
Is your county in Kia's list of shame?

1 Surrey (1998)
2 Hampshire (892)
3 Kent (857)
4 Hertfordshire (855)
5 Oxfordshire (796)
6 Lancashire (733)
7 Essex (734)
8 West Sussex (680)
9 Buckinghamshire (678)
10 Gloucestershire (655)