Rotherham Council paid out £11,500 in vehicle damage compensation last year

A total of 124 claims were made in the 2020-21 financial year, and RMBC paid out for six.

Only one claim of £80 has been paid in the year from April to December 2021 so far.

Motorists can claim compensation from their local authority if their vehicle has been damaged by a road.

The cash paid out was down by 81 percent compared to the previous year – in 2019/20 RMBC paid out £20,957 to 28 claimants.

A highways report has put the higher number of claims in 2019-20 to “the severe weather incidents around October/November 2019”, and states that 229 of the 294 claims were made between October to March.

The amount paid out has reduced significantly since the earliest data shown in 2003/04, when RMBC paid out more than £200,000 in claims.

The council faced its highest claims bill in 2015/16, when it paid out £636,534 to 26 claimants.

The report, to be presented to the improving places select commission on March 22, states that this financial year could see the “lowest number of highway claims received by the Council.”

“It is acknowledged that this could be in part due to the reduced number of people using the highways and will be monitored,” adds the report.

Repair bill

RMBC has also faced a repair bill of more than £360,000 to repair potholes in 2020-21.

In the previous year, 2019/20, repair bill was £371,530.

The number of potholes that were repaired declined by 35 per cent, with 24,751 repairs carried out in 2019/20, compared to 18,510 in 2020/21.

So far this financial year, which ends in April, the council has spent £271,932 repairing 12,036 potholes

The council has proposed a £24m investment in the borough’s roads between 2020 and 2024.

"The number of potholes that require repair has reduced over recent years,” adds the report.

“This correlates with the additional investment the Council has made in road maintenance.”