POTHOLE compensation for drivers has exceeded £90,000 since April 2017 - and the cost of ridding damage to roads has totalled over £1.6m.

Figures released by Wiltshire Council show that since April 2017, 14,800 pot holes have been repaired on Wiltshire roads and since the start of this financial year alone, £33,053.32 has been paid out to disgruntled drivers in compensation.

Pothole problems have become so bad that nearly half of drivers believe they have caused damage to their cars or vehicles.

Over a quarter of people polled by road safety charity IAM RoadSmart said they had to swerve to avoid a pot hole everyday and 90 per cent think their roads have got worse over the last three years.

Mike Quinton, from the charity, said: “IAM RoadSmart is deeply concerned at the safety implications of drivers having to swerve to avoid potholes as well as the high level of damage and injuries revealed by our survey.

“It is increasingly clear that those who use the roads on a daily basis are pretty much united on this one – enough time has now passed for a long term plan to be in place and for work to have started. As our survey has shown, this is now the motoring public’s number one priority.”

A Wiltshire Council spokesperson said: “We’re working incredibly hard to improve Wiltshire’s roads, however as a rural county, we look after more miles of roads than most.

“With the cold and snowy weather this spring and then the recent extreme hot weather, there has been additional damage to our highways and more work to be undertaken.

“We are spending more on reactive road maintenance than ever before, and over recent years we have seen the historic backlog being greatly reduced.

“We constantly monitor our roads so we can programme appropriate work to help improve their condition.”

“Where there are local road issues we’d encourage people to report them using MyWilts and we will address these as quickly as possible.”