Over a thousand London motorists have been denied compensation for damage caused by potholes, according to new figures from freedom of information requests.
1,539 claims for vehicle damage have been rejected across London councils since 2022, the equivalent of more than two-thirds of all claims and three in four of those that reached a decision.
Councils are responsible and have a legal duty to maintain public roads under the Highways Act 1980, meaning drivers can claim compensation for vehicle damage or personal injuries if they can prove negligence; however, legally the council are allowed to reject claims if it can show they were unaware of the pothole and carried out regular inspections of the road.
Some argue that councils have failed to dedicate resources to places that need it most. William Yarwood, campaigns director at the TaxPayers’ Alliance, said: “Londoners are being clobbered by soaring council tax, yet still left driving over cratered roads.
“Rejecting three times as many pothole claims as they accept will leave motorists feeling town hall bosses are dodging responsibility.
“Councils should stop wasting money on vanity projects and focus on fixing the roads.”
Across 19 out of 32 councils that recorded the outcome of pothole claims, 2,263 claims were made by drivers since 2022.
Of those, 1,539 were rejected, 505 were successful to the claimant, and 2,263 claims are pending a decision, meaning 68 per cent of all claims were rejected, increasing to 75 per cent once pending cases are set aside.
Councils across London that answered the freedom of information request spent a total of £422,025 on successful claims over the period, an average of £836 per successful claim.
Croydon received by far the most claims of any London borough, 391 claims in total – rejecting 325 of them and paid out in just 60 cases, a refusal rate of 84 per cent.
The borough also recorded the single largest individual payout of £29,687.
A Croydon Council spokesperson said: “We know what a nuisance potholes are to road users and that’s why we have increased investment in this area, with a total of £14.5m on highway maintenance across the borough last financial year (2025/26).
“Croydon has one of the longest transport networks in London, which includes: 726 kilometres of carriageways; 1,235 kilometres of footways; and 62 highway-maintained structures and bridges.
“As part of Executive Mayor Jason Perry’s first 100 days of his new term, a new pothole patrol system has been launched to help us to fix defects as quickly as possible.
“Our highways are improving as a result of this recent investment and planned interventions, such as regular inspections and condition surveys, and the number of pothole compensation claims has decreased since 2023.”
Last year Sir Keir Starmer pledged £1.6bn in ring-fenced funding for potholes, warning that damaged roads “can risk lives and cost families hundreds if not thousands of pounds on repairs”.
Featured image credit: Pexels
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