GLASGOW City Council has been accused of breaking promises to repair roads riddled with potholes.

E-mails seen by the Evening Times reveal officials gave assurances that much complained about craters would be filled and they also provided dates by which the vital work would take place.

But the improvements were never carried out.

Now David McDonald, SNP councillor for Greater Pollok, has called for an investigation into the "embarrassing dereliction of duty".

Crumbling roads across the city have long been a cause of misery for drivers, with many forced to pay hundreds of pounds for repairs after their vehicles have been damaged .

The Evening Times Pothole Watch campaign continues to highlight the sorry state of city roads and thousands of drivers, sick of the decaying highways, have contacted us, their local councillors and the council to highlight badly affected roads.

After being inundated with complaints from people in Pollok, Mr McDonald contacted the authority's Land and Environmental Services to urge it to carry out repairs.

The councillor asked the roads team to fix potholes in Leithland Road and Avenue, off Brockburn Road, on March 20.

He received an e-mail on March 25 from Land and Environmental services telling him "arrangements have been made for temporary repairs to be carried out by Tuesday, April 2".

But, almost three weeks later, drivers are still having to negotiate the rutted road surface.

In another e-mail, sent on March 25, Mr McDonald raised the issue of potholes at a mini roundabout in nearby Levernside Road and was told repairs would be carried out by April 5.

This road also remains untouched.

The councillor was also told, more than a month ago, that arrangements would be made to fix the cratered surface of Blackstone Crescent, near St Marnock's Primary.

This has also not been done.

Mr McDonald said: "These potholes are also draining communities of cash. In the last few weeks I have had several requests for help from constituents who have had to pay hundreds of pounds due to the damage caused to their cars.

"Communities cannot afford to keep paying the bill for the council's lack of action.

"I have written to the roads department and have asked for an investigation into its repeated failures in my ward and around the city.

"Like many other councillors, I report problem potholes on a regular basis to the council for repair and I expect them to be repaired.

"But I was shocked to discover many of the reported problems are not being fixed.

"The roads department regularly provides elected members with a date by which the work will be done so we can notify constituents, but we are being made to look foolish as the time line for repairs comes and goes without any work being done.

"It is simply not good enough.

"It is embarrassing for me as an elected member and it is an appalling dereliction of duty by the council.

"The council claims to be spending more each year on our roads, but it has under-funded them for so long that the cost of repair is more than it can afford."

A spokeswoman for Glasgow City Council said: "As the member is aware, scheduled works were unfortunately delayed due to unseasonal cold weather, causing a backlog of work.

"Additional resources have now been committed to clear that backlog and the work has been rescheduled."

The Evening Times revealed last month that drivers in Glasgow received £988,571 last year in compensation for pothole damage to their vehicles.

The total was more than double the payout for the previous year.

They claimed four times as much compensation as the rest of Scotland combined.

linzi.watson@ eveningtimes.co.uk