Drivers voice pothole concerns as claims top £19k

A Coventry driver whose tyre was damaged twice in two days by potholes said the city's roads have "got a lot worse".

Luis Appleby-French said his tyre "blew out" after hitting an "unavoidable" pothole on Winsford Avenue in March. The following day, the same tyre was damaged by another pothole on Fletchamstead Highway.

His experience comes as the city council revealed it pays an average of £19,311 a year in pothole compensation.

Highways officers said the city's pothole backlog had fallen to 67 repairs, down from thousands last year.

That compares with a backlog of 7,167 carriageway and footway problems recorded in March 2025.

The council has also increased the number of pothole repair teams from six to 10 and said the average time taken to fix the most urgent potholes had fallen to 12 days, moving closer to its five-day target.

But Appleby-French said he was "surprised" the council's annual compensation bill was not higher.

"I thought given the state of the roads there would have been a lot more people claiming, so a lot more money going out," he said.

He told the BBC that when he took his car to a garage following the first incident on 18 March, mechanics discovered another tyre was also bulging.

"They said it was probably from other potholes."

Appleby-French said the council reimbursed him for damage caused by both incidents and repaired the potholes "swiftly".

"I was very fortunate that I was able to put in a claim with the council and getting the money back was very good, I can't fault them for that," he said.

"However, it was a real pain to find the form on the council website, it was not straightforward at all."

He added that roads should be repaired before they deteriorate to the point where they damage vehicles.

"I have been driving for four years now and this is the worst I have felt that the roads have been," he added.

Another resident, Andy Beauford, from Eastern Green, said potholes remained "a problem that is ongoing" across the city.

"The patchwork quilt element of it is just putting off the inevitable which is a complete resurfacing - you are always worried about hitting something," he said.

In a report to councillors, highways operations and development manager Peter Ullah said motorists could seek compensation if they could show the council had failed in its duty to maintain the highway.

The report said the authority's average annual expenditure on pothole-related compensation claims over the past four years was £19,311, slightly below the national average of about £20,000 per highway authority identified by RAC Freedom of Information data.

The council said it invested £20m in 160 projects last year to repair roads and pavements, improve flood protection and boost road safety.

A further £7m has been allocated this year, including funding for road repairs.

A spokesperson said Coventry received a green rating for its approach to tackling potholes in January, the highest rating available to a city.

"Once we are alerted about a pothole, we set out to fix it as soon as possible," they added.

Follow BBC Coventry & Warwickshire on BBC Sounds, Facebook, X and Instagram.