Derbyshire County Council fork out over £330,000 for pothole damage in three years

Derbyshire County Council have paid out over £330,000 since 2017 in compensation for vehicle damage due to potholes.
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An FOI request by the Derbyshre Times revealed that 1,895 claims were made from 2017-2019, and 709 were paid out.

In 2017, 314 claims were made, and 123 paid.

In 2018, 1205 claims were made, and 556 paid.

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In 2019 (until December 13), 376 claims were made, and 30 paid.

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Derbyshire County Council say the spike in claims in 2018- £214,550 was paid out in this year alone – was down to the extreme weather.

The largest single claim was £10,687.83, in 2017.

A Derbyshire County Council spokesperson said: “While there has been a reduction in 2019 there was also a spike in 2018 compared to 2017.

“We believe this was because of the extreme weather in early spring 2018, known as `the Beast from the East’ which caused significant damage to our roads, and despite huge efforts, did stretch our resources and meant some works took longer to complete than we would have hoped at times.

“The winter of 2018/19 was much less severe and caused much less damage to the roads than the previous year.

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“Coupled with improving how we identify and manage pothole works, this will have contributed to a reduction in incidents and the number of claims lodged against the council.

“In fact, the council has fixed approximately 53,000 potholes this year.

“The council does not automatically pay compensation for damage caused by potholes.”