Andy Burnham faces calls to urgently fix potholes, with motorists across the country “sick of the state of UK roads”, according to an expert. Tom Jervis, consumer writer at Auto Express, has told the new Prime Minister to immediately commit to “long-term road maintenance funding” to solve the issue once and for all.
Millions of Potholes and Rising Costs
The UK is understood to be plagued with more than one million potholes, with previous analysis suggesting there were six potholes per mile. Motorists are now feeling the sting, with the RAC dealing with an average of 225 pothole-related callouts a day in February. That figure stands at nearly three-and-a-half times the 66 per day recorded in the same month in 2025.
Holes in the road are a major nuisance, damaging vehicles and driving up insurance costs in a massive blow for Britain’s 42 million drivers. The UK's pothole backlog now sits at over £18billion.
Funding Promises and Expert Warnings
Sir Keir Starmer had pledged to fix the issue, allocating up to £7.3million of funding to fix potholes. However, with experts suggesting the UK is facing an £18.6billion backlog, more needs to be done by the new administration.
Speaking exclusively to Express.co.uk, Tom said: “Motorists are absolutely sick of the state of the UK’s roads; not only are they making conditions more dangerous, but they are damaging cars which drives up insurance premiums.
“Our research shows 76% of drivers have at least one pothole on the street where they live, while 52% have had their car damaged by a pothole, so it is no wonder that the state of our roads were among the biggest drivers of votes in the local elections earlier this year so it is vital that the funding promised through to 2030 is delivered as promised.”
Impact on Drivers and Vehicles
According to data from KwikFit, as many as 2.5 million drivers have decided to buy a bigger car or SUV to better handle the poor condition of roads. However, this could exacerbate the issue, with heavier vehicles likely to do more damage to road surfaces.
AA boss Edmund King has previously warned that more needs to be done to deal with the pothole issues across the country. He said: “We have been seeing with our own eyes, and feeling with our wheels, how record wet weather linked to substandard roads has led to many local roads becoming patchwork obstacle courses.”
