HIGHWAYS bosses have paid out more than £23,000 to motorists who have had their cars damaged by potholes in the past three years.
But the vast majority of pothole-related damage claims made to Worcestershire County Council are unsuccessful.
Figures revealed by a Freedom of Information request show 618 claims were made to the council across the past three financial years.
Only 22 such claims resulted in compensation being paid.
A council spokesperson said: “The council has a duty to maintain roads that are open to public traffic.
“That duty does not mean the council is automatically liable for every instance of damage, and not every claim automatically results in compensation being paid.
“Most claims are unsuccessful because the council can demonstrate a statutory defence.
“Authorities can defend claims where they can show that roads were inspected and maintained in line with an approved, risk‑based inspection regime, and that any defects were identified and repaired within appropriate timescales.”
HIGHWAYS CHANGES: Council leader Jo Monk (Image: Worcestershire County Council)
The figures, obtained by the Local Democracy Reporting Service, show a total of £23,860.26 was paid out by the council on the successful claims.
Which road is responsible for the most pothole claims?
The Freedom of Information request also revealed the road responsible for the most pothole damage claims in Worcestershire over the past two years.
A total of 25 claims made since April 2024 relate to Worcester Road in Ombersley.
It was responsible for the most claims in 2024/26 (10 claims) and 2025/26 (15 claims).
In 2023/25, Hewell Lane in Redditch had the record for the most claims with 12.
Worcestershire highways chief axed from cabinet by council leader
Former highway chief ‘disappointed but not surprised’ to be axed
‘Waste criminals’ targeted as number of large fly-tips doubles
Council leader Jo Monk said new highways chief Nik Price is ready to “transform” the authority’s highways department with fixing potholes a priority.
“I handed the running of highways over to our cabinet member for strategic DOGE so that he can really transform how the directorate operates, reviewing contracts, driving down costs and bringing in new technology to improve performance,” said Cllr Monk.
“We’ve already visited JCB to try out their state-of-the-art machinery for repairing potholes.”
