Misery for motorists during 'pothole season'

Car and van insurance policyholders may be among the increased number of drivers to visit a website in a bid to report potholes in their area.

Portal Potholes.co.uk, which provides a contact point between motorists and councils' highway departments, has revealed that visitors to its site have surged in recent weeks during the icy snap.

Many site users have reported ill-effects of holes in the roads to their vehicles, causing them to shell out for new tyres and damaged suspension, potentially resulting in car insurance claims too.

"The new year's 'pothole season' is well and truly upon us," said Duncan McClure Fisher of Warranty Direct, which established the website in 2007.

"We've seen a surge in people visiting the site and sadly we're hearing the same stories again and again - people are hitting craters caused by icy conditions and already poor road quality and they are having to pay out for new wheels and tyres," he added.

Potholes can be caused when ice in cracks on the ground expands, damaging the road surface and causing a deeper hole to form.

Mr McClure Fisher went on to say that the situation has been made worse since firms began digging up the roads so regularly, weakening the ground.

Drivers can use the website to report potholes in their area to their local council.

According to the Scunthorpe Telegraph, council officers are having to embark on emergency measures to fix potholes across north Lincolnshire after the ice caused excessive damage.

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The views expressed within the article are entirely those of Adfero Ltd and are not those of the BGL Group