Deteriorating roads have led to claims for compensation quadrupling over the past ten years.

Nearly 500 people demanded compensation after they were injured or their vehicles damaged because of potholes in roads or damaged pavements in Oxfordshire last year.

The figure is up more than 400 per cent on a decade ago and led the cash-starved county council to put aside £350,000 to meet pay-outs this year.

Engineers said they needed an extra £5m to bring Oxfordshire's roads up to standard - but have had their budget slashed by a third over the past five years.

The cash shortage means the council's highways department has all but given up on maintaining 70 per cent of roads in the county.

Richard Dix, chief highways engineer, said: "The roads in Oxfordshire have been deteriorating for about 20 years, but since we have had big cuts in our budget over the past five years they have gone downhill fast.

"We only carry out resurfacing work on A roads, which means we are really just patching up potholes on 70 per cent of our roads."

Most of the compensation claims are from motorists whose tyres, wheels or suspension have been damaged by driving on poor quality roads.

The council has signposted 20 roads "failed" as a defence against claims.

Wet weather in the early part of this year led to 120 claims last month - which was nearly a quarter of the total for last year.

Story date: Tuesday 02 March

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