Councils across South West Wales reject almost every pothole claim as drivers left paying the price

Fresh data obtained by the RAC reveals a bleak picture for motorists in our region, where refusal rates regularly top 97%, leaving families to cover repair bills that can easily run into hundreds of pounds.

Carmarthenshire: 114 claims, one payout — a 99% refusal rate

No council in our patch fared worse than Carmarthenshire, which rejected 113 out of 114 pothole damage claims in 2024.

That means just one driver received compensation all year — despite garages across the county reporting a steady stream of suspension failures, buckled wheels and blown tyres.

At a garage in Porthyrhyd, owner Aled Jenkins says the damage is relentless.

“We get people coming in more or less every week because of potholes,” he said. “It causes a lot of trouble for cars, especially with their suspensions.”

In Cwmamman, mechanic Amos Lawlor says drivers have simply lost faith in the system.

“Go back five or ten years and you’d put in a claim and get paid,” he said. “Now they’re clamping down. But the damage hasn’t stopped — we still see it every week.”

He warned that recent frosts will only make things worse: “Roads aren’t being maintained enough. After the latest frost, there’ll be more potholes again.”

Swansea, Pembrokeshire and NPT: refusal rates above 94%

The picture is no better in neighbouring counties.

Swansea, Pembrokeshire, Neath Port Talbot and the Vale of Glamorgan all rejected 97% of claims or more, according to the RAC’s analysis.

In practice, that means drivers who hit a pothole in Swansea or Pembrokeshire have almost no chance of receiving compensation — even if the damage is severe.

Neath Port Talbot wasn’t far behind, refusing more than 94% of claims.

Across the region, garages say the pattern is the same: more damage, fewer payouts, and drivers increasingly resigned to footing the bill themselves.

Bridgend: the one rare bright spot

One council in our wider region bucked the trend — and dramatically so.

Bridgend County Borough Council was the only authority in Wales to pay out 100% of the pothole claims it received last year.

It’s a tiny number of cases compared to Carmarthenshire or Swansea, but still a striking contrast in a landscape where almost every other council is rejecting nearly every claim.

Claims rising, payouts falling

While councils in our patch are rejecting claims at record levels, the number of drivers seeking compensation continues to rise.

Across Wales, pothole claims have jumped 26% since 2021 — but the proportion of successful payouts has fallen from one in four to just one in six.

The RAC says the average payout is £390, but the average repair bill for damage worse than a puncture is closer to £590 — leaving many families out of pocket even when they do win a claim.

RAC head of policy Simon Williams says strict definitions of what counts as a pothole are part of the problem.

“Some have to be four centimetres deep and a certain width,” he said. “If you hit one, it can cause a real jolt to the car and serious damage — and it’s a major safety risk, particularly for cyclists and motorcyclists.”

He warned that the true scale of the problem may be even worse, with several councils failing to provide data.

A growing crisis on local roads

For drivers in Carmarthenshire, Swansea, Neath Port Talbot, Pembrokeshire and Bridgend, the message is clear: pothole damage is rising — but the chances of getting a penny back are shrinking fast.

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Pothole patchwork: Welsh Government hails 37,000 fixes – but drivers still face a bumpy ride

Broken roads are costing drivers dear

For motorists, the numbers are more than statistics. The RAC says drivers in England and Wales encounter an average of six potholes per mile, while the AA reports that fixing potholes is a priority for 96% of drivers.

Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer has warned that “broken roads can risk lives and cost families hundreds if not thousands of pounds on repairs”. Industry data backs that up: Halfords says more than a quarter of drivers suffered pothole damage last year, with repairs averaging £718 for suspension, wheels and tyres.

AA president Edmund King has urged councils to focus on “permanent and innovative repairs rather than adopting a ‘patch and run’ approach”, warning that potholes can be fatal for cyclists and motorcyclists.

Who is actually responsible for fixing the roads?

Part of the confusion for drivers is that not all roads are the same.

• The Welsh Government maintains trunk roads and motorways such as the M4 and A40.
• Local councils are responsible for local roads, using a mix of their own budgets and government‑backed borrowing.

So when the Welsh Government says 37,000 potholes were fixed or prevented between April and September, that only covers work funded through its own schemes. It doesn’t capture the full scale of day‑to‑day repairs carried out by councils.

🛠️ Report a pothole

Not sure who’s responsible for the road? Use the right link below to make sure your report gets to the right place:

• Swansea Council – Report a pothole
• Neath Port Talbot Council – Report potholes
• Carmarthenshire Council – Report a pothole
• Bridgend Council – Report an issue (potholes)
• Pembrokeshire Council – Report a problem
• Trunk roads & motorways (SWTRA / Traffic Wales)

Tip: If you’re not sure who’s responsible, start with your local council — they’ll redirect you if it’s a trunk road.

Councils’ budgets show a fragmented picture

Earlier this year, councils set their budgets for 2025/26 — and the differences are stark.

• In Swansea, councillors approved a record £20m investment in highways, covering resurfacing, pavements, bridges and drainage. By mid‑year, schemes such as the 8km resurfacing of the B4295 on Gower had already been delivered.
• In Bridgend, the budget included £590,000 for highways works, topped up by £2.9m from the Welsh Government’s borrowing initiative.
• In Pembrokeshire, councillors warned last year that the county faced a period of “managed decline” in its road network, with only the most urgent repairs affordable.

The result is a patchwork: Swansea trumpeting record spending, Bridgend relying on borrowing, and Pembrokeshire openly admitting the limits of what it can achieve.

Swansea leads on transparency – others lag behind

Swansea is also unusual in publishing weekly updates on potholes fixed, including how many were repaired within 48 hours. Those logs show dozens repaired every week — far higher than the 57 potholes attributed to Swansea in the Welsh Government’s dataset for the same six‑month period.

Neighbouring councils do not routinely publish similar data. Carmarthenshire revealed in a scrutiny report that it logged more than 10,000 potholes in 2024, while Pembrokeshire and Bridgend figures tend to surface only through FOI requests or budget papers.

That lack of consistency makes it harder for residents to compare performance across Wales — and harder to hold councils to account.

A road ahead that still looks uneven

For drivers, the frustration is simple: the roads they use every day often feel worse than the official figures suggest. For councils and ministers, the reality is more complicated — split responsibilities, ring‑fenced funding streams, and budgets that vary wildly from county to county.

Swansea’s weekly repair logs and record investment show what transparency and ambition can look like. But elsewhere, figures are harder to come by, and some councils admit they are managing decline rather than delivering improvement.

The Welsh Government’s claim of 37,000 potholes fixed in six months is eye‑catching, but it is only part of the picture. Until there is a consistent way of reporting repairs — and a sustainable level of funding to match the scale of the problem — drivers across South West Wales are likely to keep feeling every bump in the road.

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Nearly £5m to be spent on Neath Port Talbot roads

The council’s cabinet agreed to spend £1.3m on strengthening and improvement of bridges and other structures, £2.042m on carriageway surface treatment and £495,000 on drainage improvement works.

There’s also £344,000 on minor works, traffic, disabled parking and Traffic Regulation Orders, £142,500 on footway surface treatment and £130,000 on improving rural lanes.

Other money is going into patching and pothole repairs and other maintenance measures including road safety work.

Part of the programme includes around £1m for ongoing strengthening work on the vital Heilbronn Way road bridge in the centre of Port Talbot, drainage and culvert work in Pontardawe and resurfacing of the B4434 Tonna Bends.

Cllr Scott Jones, Neath Port Talbot Council’s Cabinet Member for Streetscene, said: “As well as making our towns, valleys and villages look better, this programme will ensure the continued provision of a safe and resilient road and footpath network across Neath Port Talbot.”

The council says that essential work has been given priority in their programme of works following inspection reports from its technical officers and feedback from councillors and the public.

Funding for the work is being partly met by borrowing from the Welsh Government’s Local Government Borrowing Initiative (LGBI) which is subject to a business justification case which the council has submitted.

(Lead image: Neath Port Talbot Council)

#motoring #NeathPortTalbot #NeathPortTalbotCouncil #potholes #roadRepairs

City council says it’s filled thousands of potholes to keep motorists on the move

Since April last year, Swansea Council say that more than 6,000 potholes have been fixed, as well as a number of major road resurfacing projects completed in communities across the city.

Despite the bad weather, in February alone the council says its team filled in more than 500 potholes with more than 98% of them being fixed within 48 hours of being reported by members of the public.

In addition to that more than 2,500 other road defects spotted by the council’s engineers have been fixed in the last 11 months.

The news comes following reports that councils across Wales are facing record numbers of compensation claims for pothole damage to vehicles.

Andrew Stevens, Cabinet Member for Environment and Infrastructure said: “The work is all part of our commitment to maintaining and improving our highways, keeping businesses, visitors and residents on the move.

“Last year we spent £8.1m resurfacing roads and fixing potholes and in the coming year £20m more will go towards maintaining our roads for the benefit of motorists, cyclists, businesses and pedestrians.”

He said: “Our highways maintenance teams have covered a lot of ground this year, working hard to target roads most in need of repair.

“In the last couple of months alone, they have been doing major resurfacing work in Gorseinon, Carmarthen Road, Swansea Enterprise Park, Bethel Road, Llansamlet,. Sketty Park Drive, Garngoch and Townhill.

Cllr Stevens said: “It’s important to understand we can’t repair everything that needs doing in one year.

“But over the last five years we have completed more than 36,500 pothole and road defect repairs on top of many road resurfacing projects on main roads and on residential streets.

“Our commitment is to continue to put millions of pounds into keeping up the momentum on maintaining and improving roads.”

Residents can report specific potholes here – www.swansea.gov.uk/reportpothole  and if they include their email address the council’s highways team will update them on progress.

The council say that if your pothole report is not about a specific concern  but a general comment on road conditions, road engineers will take it into account as part of the its general road maintenance programme.

#CllrAndrewStevens #motoring #potholes #roadRepairs #roadResurfacing #Swansea #SwanseaCouncil

Councils to get £120m boost to repair more potholes

The Welsh Government say its new local government borrowing initiative will provide an extra £10m of revenue funding to local councils to enable them to unlock an additional £120m of capital funding to accelerate the process of fixing our local roads and pavements.

It adds that the scheme will be designed in close partnership with the Welsh Local Government Association (WLGA) and will be open for applications by the end of this financial year.

Cabinet Secretary for Transport and North Wales, Ken Skates said: “I am delighted that we are able to help local councils access the necessary funding to enable them to accelerate some of the much-needed repair work on local roads across Wales.

“Connecting our communities by fixing our roads is a key priority for us and we will continue to do all that we can to improve the future resilience of roads across Wales.”

Cllr Andrew Morgan OBE, Leader of WLGA and transport spokesperson said: “I have been working closely with the Welsh Government on this initiative over recent months and I am really pleased to see it come to fruition. A previous initiative between 2012 and 2014 was highly successful and showed what can be achieved by councils when the right level of funding is available.

“This funding will enable significant improvements to roads, pavements and bridges across Wales.”

#KenSkatesMS #motoring #potholes #roadRepairs #roadResurfacing #WelshGovernment