TENS of thousands of pounds has been spent by Cumbria County Council on compensation claims for vehicle damage and personal injury caused by potholes.

Hundreds of drivers have had payouts following claims for pothole incidents over the past two years, according to data obtained via Freedom of Information laws.

And hundreds of thousands of pounds in unresolved claims is currently outstanding.

In 2018, 656 motorists in the county made insurance claims after driving over potholes.

That resulted in more than £86,000 being paid out by the county council after 227 of the claims were successful.

A total of 404 claims were not successful.

The estimated value of open claims stands at nearly £230,000.

In the year up to September 2019, 172 claims were made by drivers.

The council paid out nearly £9,000 after 34 of the claims were successful.

But according to the data, more than £600,000 could be paid out if all open claims are successful.

The value of open claims includes estimates for legal costs.

One woman said she was left with a £3,500 repair when her Volkswagen Golf was damaged driving over a deep pothole last year near Flookburgh.

The airbag was activated on Sherrie Blakeborough's car when she went over what she thought was a puddle after a sharp bend on the B5278 from Flookburgh to Haverthwaite.

Miss Blakeborough, 24, was unsuccessful in making a claim against the council for the damage and has been without her vehicle since the incident in August.

She said: “There was quite an impact from the airbag going off

“I didn’t realise until afterwards how much it hurt.”

The driver added: “They wouldn’t pay for repairs but they did pay to fill in the pothole.

“Drivers need to make sure that when they go over a pothole they report it straight away because they will notice if there one or two complaints made and fill it in."

A spokesman for Cumbria County Council, which is in charge of the county’s highways, urged the public to report potholes to ensure roads were properly maintained.

The spokesman said: “The best way the public can help our highways teams to maintain the network is to provide us with detailed information on defects and include good photos, when safe to do so.

“The county council’s website has lots of useful information for drivers to review as they prepare for driving in the winter months, as well as an online reporting tool for all road defects.”