MORE than £26,000 was paid out to Glasgow drivers for damage caused by potholes last year, new figures show.

The city council was alerted to 20,172 potholes across the city and spent £26,236 on compensation for drivers.

More than £1 million was spent by the local authority repairing the craters.

In total, the combined depth of the cracks in Glasgow's roads reached more than 800 metres.

Across Scotland more than 11,000 potholes were reported to councils, boasting a combined depth of more than four kilometres – around 25 times deeper than the English Channel.

More than two fifths (41 per cent) of motorists in Scotland say they have had their car damaged by a pothole in the past.

Scottish Tory transport spokesman Jamie Greene said: “This shows again that Scots are driving and cycling on roads that are dangerous and deteriorating.

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“The Scottish Conservatives have committed to a £100m pothole fund that would enable local authorities to access the funds they need to fix our roads.

“The SNP’s failure to fix our roads is damaging our economy, endangering our road users and the potholes are only getting bigger.”

These latest figures come just over a month after the Evening Times re-launched its successful Spothole campaign, which helped highlight some of the worst examples of potholes on Glasgow's roads.

First launched in 2018, reports of potholes in Glasgow soared by more than 150 per cent as a result of the campaign, with more than 12,000 repairs carried out during its duration.

Now in its second month for 2019, Spothole is already finding the worst offenders across the city.

Earlier this month, we told how 1,200 potholes have been reported across Glasgow in the last month.

A total of 1,260 craters have been spotted during Glasgow City Council’s routine road inspections, while 1,500 have been repaired either ­permanently or temporarily by the local authority’s road teams.

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At their worst, Glasgow's potholes have been as deep as four feet, with one recently covering more than 10 metres of a South Side road.

Our photographers captured some of the worst offenders blighting Glasgow roads, with the The Institute of Advanced Motoring backing the initiative.

The latest data for Glasgow was compiled by Confused.com following a series of Freedom of Information requests.

It shows 905,172 potholes were reported across the UK in 2017/18.

Using the minimum depth required for a road defect to be considered a pothole, these would boast a combined depth of more than 33km – three times that of the deepest part of the Pacific Ocean.

Amanda Stretton, motoring editor at Confused.com, said the data showed “just how deep Scotland’s pothole problem goes – a problem that has caused councils to pay out £272,000 in compensation for pothole damage to vehicles in the last year alone”.

She said: “Re-claiming the costs for pothole damage can be confusing for drivers. Many don’t know if it’s best to claim from your insurer, or from the council.”

She added: “The number of potholes reported in the UK has increased by 2 per cent in the last year, and it’s a battle councils continue to fight.

“If motorists come across a pothole they should report it to their local authority before it gets any worse.”

To enter a pothole to the campaign, simply snap a quick picture or video of the crumbling road surface and send it to news@eveningtimes.co.uk.

Let us know where and when it was spotted, and if your car was damaged.

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