New figures from AA Insurance show that the number of car insurance claims for pothole damage has soared by over 600% over the last three years.

Simon Douglas, director of AA Insurance says: “Nationally, the damage to cars caused by potholes in February alone cost insurers around £2.85 million, the equivalent of about 1,900 claims.

“But that’s just the tip of the iceberg, because it takes serious damage to make it worth [an] insurance claim. Garages and tyre centres are dealing with countless thousands of punctured tyres, damaged tracking or broken springs which don’t justify making a claim.”

North Yorkshire county council has been forced to introduce a ‘pothole tax’, the equivalent of a weekly 8p increase in council tax to fund its repair programme which, the AA says, local people will find hard to swallow, especially pensioners and families who do not drive.

Commenting on the tax, AA president Edmund King says: “Local roads are in a dreadful, dangerous state and emergency funding is desperately needed to stop the plague of potholes. However, with the motorist already paying £46 billion per year in various motoring taxes and only a small proportion spent on the roads, it would be highway robbery to demand more money from local people.

“The government intends to increase fuel duty on April 1 by approximately 2.5p per litre. If this fuel windfall was diverted into pothole repairs then all of the UK’s potholes could be funded and filled in 100 days.”