The number of chauffeurs breaking down with pothole-related damage such as buckled alloy wheels, broken shock absorbers and snapped springs enhanced by 37 per cent in the first quarter of 2021 compared to the same period last year, the RAC reports.
The breakdown firm logs all breakdowns where pothole strikes are the suspected culprit, with roadside technicians attending 4,694 such events in the first three months or 2021, up from 3,426, and equivalent to 52 chauffeurs a day breaking down after hitting a pothole. 
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As well as being a huge rise compared with the first three months of last year, that figure represents three times much more pothole strikes than were attended in the final quarter of 2020. The RAC says this is the largest rise between quarters it has ever seen. 
A total of 2.4 per cent of all RAC callouts between January and March followed pothole strikes, with the colder weather seen over this period the likely culprit, as water freezing and expanding in cracks in the road is one of the essential causes of pothole formation. 

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The rapidly rising events “put into sharp focus the huge task now facing local and national governments to bring road surface standards up to a sensible level”, the RAC says. A £2.5 billion ‘pothole fund’ was announced in 2020’s budget for the 2020/21 to 2024/25 financial years.
The RAC’s Nicholas Lyes said some roads “resemble the surface of the Moon”, and it was an “uncomfortable truth” for chauffeurs and authorities that numerous are “in a desperate state”. 
Lyes cautioned that “the problem risks getting even worse as pandemic restrictions are relieved and the roads get busier”, adding that his company’s newest data “should herald a watershed moment where authorities finally acknowledge the perilous state numerous roads are currently in…Potholes are a sign of broken roads, but they are also a sign of the broken nature of how the roads are looked after and paid for.”
Find out how to claim for pothole damage to your car here…