Which Cities In The UK Have The Biggest Pothole Problems?

One of the most notorious problems drivers of today are facing are potholes and uneven surfaces appearing upon the roads we drive along. Pot Holes are simply caused by the wear and tear of traffic passing over weakened stretches of tarmac. When water seeps into the gaps in the road surface and freezes, this weakens it dramatically and makes it much cheaper to wear down and break away under pressure.

So why are these potholes so annoying for us drivers? They can actually be very dangerous and have the potential to cause some serious damage to your car or bike. In a good scenario, not avoiding a pothole and hitting it with too much force could instantly puncture a tyre, which can prove expensive and cause hassle to replace. In a worst-case scenario, a pothole could cause even more damage to other parts of your wheel and car. Many drivers have experienced cracked or bent wheels or even had their wheel knocked out of alignment, which could even cause problems with your suspension.

What Can You Do If Your Car Is Damaged By A Pothole?

If you are unfortunate enough to have any of these problems occur, it is possible to claim compensation back relatively easily and avoid using your vehicle insurance to pay. You will need to ensure you keep lots of evidence, including the size, and location of the pothole, accompanied by pictures if safe to do so, and send a letter to the council responsible for the road you were driving along. More information on how to do this can be found on the advice page of the AA’s website.

Repairing a pothole is a relatively simple, and inexpensive process for every material of road surface. The first step is always to clean the pothole and remove any rocks or debris from the site. Fill it with the required mix, depending on the material of the surface, and ensure that it is compacted down, smoothly and evenly until dry. This process usually only costs an average of £70 per pothole, according to data collected by the London Council, but other sources suggest figures closer to £50.

Replacing a punctured tyre could cost around £60 alone, and considering most people are likely to damage other parts of their car including suspension and wheel alignments, a bill in the excess of £200 would not be unlikely at all, according to an expert mechanics opinion. So according to these figures, every time one driver damages their car due to a pothole in the road, they could be costing the government quadruple the price it would cost them to fix it in the first place.

So Whereabouts In The United Kingdom Has The Biggest Pothole Problem?

In order to answer this question, we used googles keyword planner, to determine which cities were searching the word “potholes” the most because therefore they are likely to be having problems with them if they are taking to Google to find answers. In order to then make it fair, we divided the results per capita, because the cities with the bigger populations would be more likely to rank higher. Here is what we discovered.

Rank
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
51
52
53
54
55
56
57
58
59
60
61
62
63
64
65
66
67
68
69
70
71
72
73
74
75
76
77
78
79
80
81
82
83
84
85
86
87
88
89
90
91
92
93
94

City

Hildenborough

Sandwich

Holmfirth

Chipping Norton

Alexandria

Beaconsfield

Wantage

Bradford-on-Avon

Devizes

Omagh

Atherton

Ryde

Rosyth

Forfar

Henley-on-Thames

Amersham

Lancing

Glenrothes

Tiverton

Kempston

Leek

Godalming

Ayr

Chicester

Thetford

Huntingdon

Daventry

Willenhall

Bushey

Dover

Wickford

Stafford

Woodley

Port Talbot

Cannock

Leighton Buzzard

Camberley

Strabane

Tonbridge

Newbury

Harlow

Glastonbury

Sale

Oldham

Cheltenham

Glouester

Havant

Aylesbury

Taunton

Hereford

Dungannon

Wrexham

Milton Keynes

Maidenhead

Torquay

Bracknell

Stevenage

Burnley

Worcester

Crawley

Darlington

Belfast

Colchester

Winchester

Hemel Hempstead

High Wycombe

Lincoln

Glasgow

Worthing

Rotherham

Ipswich

Dundee

Doncaster

Leicester

Peterborough

Birmingham

Aberdeen

Slough

Luton

Southampton

Northamton

Liverpool

Sutton

Irvine

Bristol

Barnsley

Manchester

Newport

Kingston-upon-Hull

Nottingham

Wakefield

Edinburgh

London

Leeds

Population
5,000
5,000
5,000
6,000
7,000
11,000
11,000
9,000
12,000
20,000
22,000
25,000
14,000
14,000
12,000
18,000
19,000
39,000
20,000
20,000
21,000
22,000
47,000
24,000
24,000
24,000
25,000
29,000
24,000
31,000
33,000
100,000
36,000
36,000
29,000
37,000
38,000
40,000
41,000
41,000
87,000
35,000
100,000
200,000
100,000
100,000
46,000
59,000
61,000
61,000
64,000
66,000
200,000
70,000
65,000
85,000
88,000
89,000
100,000
110,000
110,000
280,000
120,000
120,000
100,000
130,000
130,000
600,000
110,000
110,000
140,000
150,000
160,000
400,000
200,000
1,200,000
210,000
170,000
220,000
250,000
200,000
500,000
210,000
270,000
500,000
300,000
600,000
320,000
260,000
330,000
340,000
480,000
9,000,000
800,000

Searches
80.49
80.49
79.23
79.23
79.23
80.49
80.49
63.38
80.49
126.76
126.76
142.61
79.23
79.23
63.38
80.49
80.49
158.45
80.49
79.23
79.23
80.49
159.72
80.49
79.23
79.23
79.23
80.49
63.38
79.23
80.49
237.68
80.49
80.49
63.38
79.23
80.49
79.23
79.23
79.23
158.45
63.38
160.99
319.44
159.72
159.72
63.38
79.23
80.49
79.23
79.23
80.49
238.94
79.23
63.38
80.49
80.49
80.49
80.49
80.49
79.23
190.14
80.49
79.23
63.38
80.49
79.23
348.59
63.38
63.38
80.49
79.23
80.49
160.99
80.49
465.84
80.49
63.38
79.23
80.49
63.38
158.45
63.38
80.49
143.87
80.49
159.72
80.49
63.38
79.23
80.49
63.38
1,095.84
63.38

Searches per 10k
160.98
160.98
158.46
132.05
113.1857143
73.17272727
73.17272727
70.42222222
67.075
63.38
57.61818182
57.044
56.59285714
56.59285714
52.81666667
44.71666667
42.36315789
40.62820513
40.245
39.615
37.72857143
36.58636364
33.98297872
33.5375
33.0125
33.0125
31.692
27.75517241
26.40833333
25.55806452
24.39090909
23.768
22.35833333
22.35833333
21.85517241
21.41351351
21.18157895
19.8075
19.32439024
19.32439024
18.21264368
18.10857143
16.099
15.972
15.972
15.972
13.77826087
13.42881356
13.19508197
12.98852459
12.3796875
12.19545455
11.947
11.31857143
9.750769231
9.469411765
9.146590909
9.043820225
8.049
7.317272727
7.202727273
6.790714286
6.7075
6.6025
6.338
6.191538462
6.094615385
5.809833333
5.761818182
5.761818182
5.749285714
5.282
5.030625
4.02475
4.0245
3.882
3.832857143
3.728235294
3.601363636
3.2196
3.169
3.169
3.018095238
2.981111111
2.8774
2.683
2.662
2.5153125
2.437692308
2.400909091
2.367352941
1.320416667
1.2176
0.79225

Countryside Villages

Based on my data I have discovered that the worst city in the entire united kingdom is in fact Hildenborough. A small village in the southeast of England with a population of only around 5,000. In this area alone there were over 80 searches related to potholes, which is a very large amount considering the tiny population and overall size of the village.

The next four contenders are Sandwich, Holmfirth, Chipping Norton, and Alexandria. All are located in very different areas of the UK proving no direct correlation in location. The only thing these areas have in common is the small populations and rural characteristics. This could prove that smaller, old-fashioned villages are seeming to have the bigger problems, with seemingly no one to care enough to take responsibility for them.

This pattern is present for the majority of the top 25 with the few exceptions being cities like Ryde, Glenrothes and Ayr. Located across Scotland and the Isle of Wight. These 3 cities have the largest populations in the top 25 and are all located outside of England. There is an obvious correlation between potholes or uneven road surfaces in and around smaller countryside villages and areas that are deemed to be old fashioned.

The West Midlands

It is not until the 32 mark that we see a well-known city with a population of over 100,000 come into action, and this city is Stafford, of the West Midlands. Making it home to the worst roads in England, for a seemingly well built up, suburban, town. Stafford had around 238 pothole-related Google searches across the 100,000 individuals that make up the population.

Greater Manchester

Around the middle of the table, cities such as Sale and Oldham come in at the 43 and 44 mark respectively. Giving the metropolitan borough of Manchester, a bad name indeed. Other than Stafford of the West Midlands ranking highly, in terms of suburban areas, our Mancunian towns are the first urban locations to rank on this list.

Our Safest Cities

At the very bottom of our list, coming in at 92, 93 and 94 we have Edinburgh, London and Leeds. Showing that despite the busyness and obvious wear and tear that is bound to occur due to the higher population figures, a safe and well looked after road surface is still possible to maintain. Urban areas like Manchester and the West Midlands are due to take some advice from the councils of the bottom ranking areas because despite the humungous amount of people in the cities, they keep the “pothole” search terms very low, especially when compared to the rural countryside villages.

So What About The East Midlands?

After conducting this data we decided to gather some information localised to just the East and West Midlands themselves. In order to see which East Midlands cities are the worst, and to determine how the two sides compare against each other.

(In order to broaden our data we searched for multiple different search terms surrounding potholes.)

Rank
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14

Midlands County

Worcestershire

Herefordshire

Bedfordshire

West Midlands

Leicestershire

Staffordshire

Northamptonshire

Shropshire

Peterborough

Cambridgeshire

Lincolnshire

Nottinghamshire

Warwickshire

Derbyshire

Population
669,338
192,214
669,338
874,190
698,268
874,190
747,622
323,136
202,259
653,412
756,920
823,126
568,167
796,142

Searches
1,176.73
296.83
829.5
926.57
392.66
452.4
374.61
158.06
79.03
233.35
264.47
141.26
77.78
77.78

Searches per 100k
17.58050492
15.44268368
12.39284188
10.59918324
5.623342327
5.175076356
5.010687219
4.891438899
3.907366298
3.571253665
3.494028431
1.716140664
1.368963703
0.9769613963

1. Bedfordshire

The worst ranking east midlands city, for the number of pothole searches, is Bedfordshire, with over 800 searches for pothole-related queries across its 670,000 population. Other Midland cities do rank above Bedfordshire however, but they are all coming from the west side. Worcestershire and Herefordshire both ranked slightly higher than Bedfordshire.

2. Leicestershire

The second-highest-ranking East Midland location is Leicestershire. This city despite having a slightly smaller population still has the second biggest pothole problem in the entire East Midlands. In terms of the entire Midlands, it comes 5th, with only the county of “West Midlands” itself ranking between Leicestershire and Bedfordshire.

3. Northamptonshire

Our third-placed East Midland county is Northamptonshire, which has been fairly placed around the middle of the entire midland graph. (7th overall) with west midland location, Staffordshire ranking above. This is a fair placement for Northamptonshire considering its larger population than other counties.

4. Peterborough

Peterborough, the home to TGA Concrete, sits right in the middle in terms of our East Midland areas. Ranking 9th when compared to all midland counties. Shropshire sat in the 8th spot, with significantly more searches. Peterborough however, has a much smaller population, so therefore the amount of wear and tear caused to the roads may be considered quite embarrassing, even though the overall impressions were quite low.

5. Cambridgeshire

Taking 10th place we have Cambridgeshire. This county had a very high volume of searches, but due to their high population, it balances out and places it nice and low on the list in order to be fair, and consider population density.

6. Lincolnshire

The 6th East Midland county on our list is Lincolnshire, which is 11th on the entire midland list. Lincolnshire had a higher search rate than Cambridgeshire, but due to having a much larger population, it ranks slightly lower, doing very well to control the problem considering the size of the county.

7. Nottinghamshire

Our penultimate East Midland county is the biggest of them all, Nottinghamshire has the highest population of all East Midland locations (only the county of west midlands is higher across both sides.) It also has an incredibly low overall search volume, even despite this large population, so well done to Nottinghamshire. A county that takes pride in its roads.

8. Derbyshire

Coming in last place overall, we have Derbyshire, home to the safest roads across the entire midlands. With only 78 searches across its entire population. The West Midlands’ Warwickshire sits one rank higher, in 13th place, with a very similar search volume, but a smaller overall population.

What Has All Of This Data Taught Us?

Overall, we can now understand that cities, regardless of population, are more likely to experience pothole problems when they are more rural and based around the countryside. The low maintenance lifestyle of rural civilians has led to the neglect of their roads, and it is them who are complaining about it by turning to google for the answers.

Despite popular misconceptions that higher populations lead to more potholes, we have found that this isn’t true in most cases. Cities like London and Leeds had very limited issues despite their very large populations. However, places like Manchester and the West Midlands, do seem to still have lots of issues despite being more urban and well built, proving that further maintenance is necessary.

The West Midlands themselves also have a much bigger problem on their hands, when compared to their clearly better-maintained neighbours.

Need A Hole Filling?

Do you have a pothole or floor on your property that needs filling? If you’re based in the East Midlands get in touch with TGA Concrete today. You can find a list of TGA Concrete’s services here.