Surrey has the worst roads in Britain...

[Ozzie Osmond]

Money paid out by local authorities between 2010-2012 in claims for pot-hole damaged vehicles *

1. Surrey County Council - £638,239 [Massively in the lead]

2. Nottinghamshire County Council - £158,578 [Only 25% of Surrey's!]

3. Kent County Council - £133,593

4. Lincolnshire County Council - £119,706

5. Worcestershire County Council - £110,656

6. Essex County Council - £103,507

7. Hertfordshire County Council - £101,630

8. Lancashire County Council - £97,160

9. East Sussex County Council - £86,591

10. Wiltshire County Council - £83,043

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-19367206

[scenario8]

I recall Surrey CC noisily requesting a bigger slice of the central government emergency funding pie after the snow two winters ago. There was talk of the amount of high traffic routes through Surrey. Some superlatives were used but I don't recall the details. What I would say is the road surfaces in general don't feel like they should be the "worst in the UK" but the roads themselves get a shed load of cars pass over them.

And, this being Surrey, there are a lot of litigious/educated/time heavy/complainy types to want their pound of flesh (rightly or wrongly, of course).

[TheHeretic]

Or people in Surrey are more likely to make a claim?

Edited by TheHeretic on Friday 24th August 22:40

[brakes]

You'd think with all the 4x4s they'd be OK.

[Mr MXT]

But this is not not Britain.....DIS IST DIE AUTOBAHN!

[iva cosworth]

There was a pothole thread here a couple of weeks ago and i was going to post this but didn't.

This was round the corner from my house and has actually been filled in this week.

The pic doesn't really convey the deepness of it.

Yes in Surrey.

[TheHeretic]

Potholes? Pfft. Try ruts that would ground you if you got in one?



Road to a local pub.

[hyperblue]

TheHeretic said:

Or people in Sussex are more likely to make a claim?

Sussex? Sounds like we need to keep our riff raff neighbours out of Surrey.

[TheHeretic]

hyperblue said:

Sussex? Sounds like we need to keep our riff raff neighbours out of Surrey.

Bugger.

[DonkeyApple]

Ozzie Osmond said:

Money paid out by local authorities between 2010-2012 in claims for pot-hole damaged vehicles *

1. Surrey County Council - £638,239 [Massively in the lead]

2. Nottinghamshire County Council - £158,578 [Only 25% of Surrey's!]

3. Kent County Council - £133,593

4. Lincolnshire County Council - £119,706

5. Worcestershire County Council - £110,656

6. Essex County Council - £103,507

7. Hertfordshire County Council - £101,630

8. Lancashire County Council - £97,160

9. East Sussex County Council - £86,591

10. Wiltshire County Council - £83,043

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-19367206

Or it just has the highest density of claims scroungers and idiots who can't avoid holes.

[rumple]

No way, i drive all over the U.k and Glasgow has the wost roads, by a country mile.

[martin84]

TheHeretic said:

Or people in Sussex are more likely to make a claim?

Or the other councils are so tight fisted they don't pay out?

Or Surrey Council spends so little on road maintenance it actually has money in the bank to pay out in claims?

Or Surrey people have nicer cars they care more about them being repaired?

Surrey is stereotypically an affluent county so it is interesting they supposedly have the worst roads, given how they've probably got the most expensive cars on them. I do remember seeing an article about a year ago showing safe Conservative areas are seeing lower council budget cuts than councils in areas they'll never win, it is notable every Surrey MP is Conservative and four of them are in the Government.

[saaby93]

I'll go with Surrey being more willing to pay out than argue too

[calibrax]

It doesn't say they have the most claims, just that they paid out the most.

I'd expect a larger proportion of the Surrey claims to be for high-end vehicles than in other counties, hence the higher costs.

[Ozzie Osmond]

I drive around a lot of the UK and I'd say that the roads in Surrey are absolutely shocking and correctly represented in the table. We're not talking here about speeding through on the motorways but bumping and crashing over broken road surfaces and through innumerable pot-holes. Dreadful.

[Biker's Nemesis]

Southern shandy drinking frock wearing limp wristed complaing big girls blouses...


...With crap roads!

[CJP80]

You've obviously never been to Edinburgh! The difference there is that the council just tells you to fk off!

The disproportionate number of lawyers and road users with their own counsel in Surrey probably makes for more successful claims!

[DonkeyApple]

Biker's Nemesis said:

Southern shandy drinking frock wearing limp wristed complaing big girls blouses...


...With crap roads!

But we don't have the money to repair our roads as we have to give it all to the work shy, feckless Northerners.

If they didn't have good roads up there tey wouldn't be able to drive to the DSS or Jeremy Klye show.

[Blakec]

it will be to do with Surrey spending considerably less on carriageway repairs. And instead of replacing carriageways they are spending there money on surface dressing. As its cheaper. It's also cheaper to pay out £600k a year than spend money fixing them.

[munky]

The response from Surrey CC has always been that they are underfunded by central government compared to almost all other counties, as Surrey is wealthier. This is no doubt true, if I could be bothered I'd look up the numbers. A quick google turned up these

http://www.nce.co.uk/news/transport/surrey-county-...

http://www.surreycountyconservatives.co.uk/news/81...

http://www.molevalley.gov.uk/media/pdf/9/q/Surrey_...

then of course council tax was capped so they can't make up the shortfall that way.

I seem to remember that after a couple of harsh winters Surrey did manage to squeeze a few more pennies from the govt as evidenced here: http://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/extra_fundin...

And indeed things did improve a little, although £4m doesn't go far. What's slightly annoying is, being on a private street ("unadopted" being the official term), but also a through road and not a cul-de-sac, all residents have to pay 100% of the upkeep of a road that others use without contributing anything.

Anyway that's part of the story but it also seems that many holes are (or used to be) from poorly finished works by utilities. Which implies that Surrey CC wasn't checking the work done by the contractors working for said utilities. Again, something they say they have tightened up on.