COUNCIL workmen have filled in 14,000 potholes across Oxfordshire since December.

Figures show 77 potholes a day were repaired between December 1 and June 1 after the county’s coldest winter for decades.

Altogether, 13,986 potholes were fixed during the six months. More than 1,000 were judged so dangerous that workmen had to repair them within two hours of their being reported to County Hall.

At the beginning of the month, there were 2,331 still to be fixed in the county, the vast majority in the least serious category.

Oxfordshire County Council’s cabinet member for roads, Rodney Rose, said: “Pothole repair is a never-ending, 12-months-a-year job. We all hate to see potholes on our roads and the council’s staff work very hard to maintain some 2,800 miles of road across the county, which is greater than the distance from London to the North Pole.

“Unfortunately, the reality for all road networks is that defects are constantly forming, which means there will never be a time when roads are completely pothole-free.

“The bottom line is that there will always be a backlog of work that needs to be done and funding will constantly be needed to carry that out.”

John Woodcock, Labour’s shadow transport minister, attacked the state of the Oxfordshire’s roads, and said there was a £67.9m backlog of work needed. The projected cost would include resurfacing whole stretches of road.

Mr Woodcock said: “Instead of continually patching up knackered road surfaces with a bucket of tar, we need a proper strategic plan for Oxfordshire roads which could save taxpayers a fortune in the long term.”

The county council said it was already working on a similar approach.

Mr Rose said £3.5m of extra Government money would be used to repair long sections of worn-out road across the county from later this summer.

He said: “While this funding won’t enable wholesale repair and restructuring of the entire network, it will make a lasting difference on specific stretches which need it the most.”

Driver Malcolm Denton, of King Avenue, Marcham, whose Mini was damaged by a pothole last year, said: “On the country roads, the biggest issue now is people are so busy looking for potholes and avoiding them that they are not looking at the road ahead of them and making sure it is clear.

“Quite frankly, the road infrastructure in this county has been neglected over a long period of time, and in the long term it will cost us a huge amount of money to bring it back to a standard which is acceptable.”

Last financial year, Oxfordshire County Council paid out £64,859.82 to motorists for personal injuries and damage caused to their cars by potholes, compared to £93,239.53 in 2009/2010.