Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

Fife Council grants payouts for only 3% of pothole claims but more action pledged on roads

Potholes near Rathillet in Fife.
Potholes near Rathillet in Fife. Image: Steve Brown / DC Thomson.

Unhappy drivers made 216 compensation claims to Fife Council last year after their cars were damaged by potholes.

Almost 70% of the claims between December 1 2021 and November 30 2022 were received during the winter months.

However, the council paid out in just seven of the cases – a success rate of only 3.2%.

Labour councillor Altany Craik
Labour councillor Altany Craik agrees the roads could be better. Image: DC Thomson.

Forty-eight of the claims are still being assessed.

The new figures were revealed just five months after the AA branded Fife the pothole capital of Scotland.

The motoring organisation found there were 57,051 pothole reports in the region in three years, despite a £10 million investment in roads in 2021.

It also discovered Fife is one of the hardest parts of the UK to claim compensation.

Labour councillor Altany Craik said the council was working as hard as it could to fix thousands of potholes.

But the finance, economy and strategic planning spokesman acknowledged there was still much work to do.

Fife Council spent £10m on fixing potholes

Mr Craik said extra money was put in to fix Fife’s roads to help the region recover from the Covid pandemic.

It followed thousands of complaints and a petition demanding urgent action.

The councillor said: “The roads aren’t as good as we would like them to be. We know that.

“Everybody driving on them knows that.

“We have 2,500 kilometres of road in Fife so it’s a lot to cover.”

Potholes in Tayport, Fife.
Potholes in Tayport, Fife. Image: Kim Cessford / DC Thomson.

Mr Craik said the entire £10m had already been spent.

“We had a lot to catch up on after lockdown,” he said.

“We’ve spent it all and the roads are getting a bit better in some areas.

“We’re still working on it and trying to improve.”

The Glenrothes councillor said any compensation claim following damage caused by a new pothole that had not been reported to the council was unlikely to be successful.

But he added: “If it’s a known one that we’ve not fixed within the statutory timescale then it’s likely we’re liable.”

‘This is something that needs addressed’

Kirkcaldy SNP councillor Nicola Patrick said the people of Fife deserved better.

“Many of my constituents have voiced concerns about the state of Fife’s roads and the damage this can cause to vehicles,” she said.

“This is a Fife-wide issue and not isolated to my ward alone.

“I am aware Fife Council staff have been working flat out to fix these issues but further action needs to be taken.”

Ms Patrick raised the Fife Council pothole claims issue at a recent full council meeting.

“I hoped it would put more focus on how important this is,” she said.

“This is something that needs addressed and it needs done quickly.”