Pothole pandemic: 38% of Brits say they’ve had a run in with a pothole

EMBARGO: 2230 17th April 

As an estimated 19 million leisure journeys on UK roads take place this Easter weekend, a new poll commissioned by the Liberal Democrats can reveal the true extent of the pothole pandemic — with 61% of Brits saying that roads are poorly maintained. Liberal Democrats are calling for an end to the pothole pandemic with a comprehensive plan to fix the state of our roads.

The poll reveals that almost two in five (38%) Brits have had their car damaged or themselves harmed by potholes on roads in the UK. A further 61% say that the roads they regularly use in the UK are poorly maintained.

In the East of England, a shocking 72% of adults say their roads are poorly maintained. Similarly, a whopping 71% of adults in the South West and South East of England report that their roads are poorly maintained.

In the East Midlands, where 69% of respondents say their roads were poorly maintained, 37% report their roads are very poorly maintained. Similarly, in Scotland 45% say their roads are very poorly maintained.

This comes ahead of the Easter weekend, where millions of households will be travelling across the country for the festivities. The RAC have predicted more than 19m leisure journeys will take place this weekend, which could mean the busiest Easter for our roads since 2022.

The Liberal Democrats are calling for a comprehensive plan to fix the state of our roads. This includes investment in fixing potholes, giving councils more funding from the roads budget to maintain roads and implementing a long-term, needs-based funding model for road maintenance to provide councils with more support to tackle - proactively - the underlying condition of our road network and the repairs backlog With councils struggling to repair potholes and roads getting worse, Lib Dems would make savings to fix roads by cancelling or deferring projects which are poor value for money and giving the savings over to local authorities to ensure they can finally fix roads.

Commenting, Liberal Democrat Leader Ed Davey said:

“Millions of families will be travelling this weekend, but thanks to cruel Conservative cuts it is now almost impossible to drive without trying to swerve the pothole pandemic which plagues British roads.

“The former Conservative government oversaw brutal cuts to our transport network, maintenance works delays and the decline in the state of our roads. Now, the Labour Government seem to be following in their dismal footsteps.

“The Liberal Democrats are the only party with a real plan to fix our crumbling roads and protect motorists.”

ENDS

Notes to editors:

Methodology: Savanta interviewed 2,170 UK adults aged 18+ online between 4th April and 6th April 2025. Data were weighted to be representative of the UK by age, sex, region, and social grade.

The regional breakdown of the poll can be found here.

RAC’s estimated journeys this Easter weekend can be found here.