Motorists whose vehicles suffer damage as a result of a pothole in Dumfries and Galloway have a less than 50-50 chance of receiving compensation from the council.
New figures show that the local authority’s insurers have paid out more than £200,000 in compensation in the last three years.
Nearly £125,000 of that figure was in 2021/22, with 224 of the 524 claims – around 42 per cent – successful.
That figure was the second best payout rate among Scotland’s 32 local authorities, with less than 16 per cent of claims ending in success last year.
The data was revealed following a series of Freedom of Information requests by the Scottish Conservatives.
Galloway and West Dumfries Tory MSP, Finlay Carson, said: “There are cases of motorists being left thousands of pounds out of pocket when it comes to repairing their vehicles after they have clattered into a pothole.
“Apart from the cost of repairing tyres and alloy wheels which isn’t cheap there are often knock-on costs towards addressing steering issues. It is grossly unfair that drivers are expected to pick up the bill because the councils are unable to repair potholes and other surface issues when they already pay heavily on road tax.”
The state of the region’s roads has long been a bugbear of local residents, with Mr Carson blaming “poor funding by the Scottish Government”.
A council spokesman said: “Dumfries and Galloway Council, like many other roads authorities in the country, are managing a significant number of roads defects particularly during the winter season with low temperatures and flooding damage to carriageway surfaces.
“In recognition of the extent of the road defects experienced in recent years the council had agreed to fund an additional £2.4m through a roads repair fund over a three-year period for repairs on roads defects and this additional repair work has been running over the last year.”
A Scottish Government spokesman said: “Despite UK Government cuts to our budget, we have protected councils in the most challenging budget since devolution to provide more than £13.2 billion in the 2023-24 Local Government Settlement.
“This represents a cash increase of over £570 million or 4.5 per cent, which is a real terms increase of £160.6 million or 1.3 per cent. Maintenance of the local road network is the responsibility of local authorities and it is up to individual councils to manage their own budgets and allocate the total financial resources available to them on the basis of local needs and priorities.
