Cumbria council empties its pots for potholes
It has been revealed that the wintery weather has not only increased the risk of car accidents but has also made motorists go potty.
This is down to the rise in potholes on Cumbria’s roads; where last month alone, hundreds of drivers swamped a hotline with complaints about potholes, after the road's state damaged their cars significantly.
As a result, the county council has had to fork out £600,000 in compensation claims made due to personal injury involving uneven pavements and cracked roads.
However, the figure has displeased Matthew Elliott, chief executive of the TaxPayers’ Alliance, who stated that the figure is a waste of public money:
"This is an exorbitant amount of money to spend on compensation claims and legal fees. If the council had maintained the roads properly in the first place then they could have avoided frittering away hundreds of thousands like this.
“Motorists are so heavily taxed there should be more than enough cash in the coffers to keep our roads in a good enough condition to avoid these large pay-outs,” he said.
A spokesperson for the council noted that most claims were unsuccessful.Updated on 02/03/2010