Pothole claims up during cold snap

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Car insurance claims for damage sustained by potholes that have cropped up on the nation's roads during the icy weather have increased four-fold, the AA revealed.

Motorways, main roads and country lanes have all suffered as a result of the freezing weather conditions which have caused existing potholes to widen and deepen as ice expands within the hole, leaving a much more serious crater as the temperatures rise and ice begins to thaw.

Although the number of claims from drivers that had fallen foul of potholes has risen, the extent of the damage that is caused by them is often not enough to warrant a payout, the AA said.

"We're seeing a four-fold increase in the number of claims for pothole damage compared with the same period last year," the AA's Simon Douglas said.

"But with loss of no-claim bonus and insurance excess, it takes serious damage from a pothole 'strike' - or the consequences of one - to justify making a claim.

"It would take a quarry-like pothole to cause the sort of damage that would justify an insurance claim, but there are certainly some 'A-list' holes out there."

The AA has called on the Government to provide extra cash for highway authorities to stem the pothole epidemic in order to avoid surpassing last year's £47 million claims bill.

Copyright © Press Association 2010

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