Video: 100 drivers to hit council with pothole cash claims

MORE than 100 people have claimed their vehicles were damaged by potholes in the wake of the cold snap.

The Evening Express can today reveal that since the snow hit on December 18, 108 people have requested claim forms from Aberdeen City Council.

However, the authority was not able to say how many complaints about pothole it had received.

A spokesman said: “The cost of repairs will not be known until the full scale of the problem has been assessed.”

Haulage firms, taxi drivers and motorists today hit out at the “awful state” of the city’s pothole-peppered roads.

Their complaints come as Evening Express photographers snapped 11 problem roads in the city and one in Aberdeenshire.

Scotland’s Transport Minister Stewart Stevenson has urged councils to “get on with the job” and worry about repair costs later.

But Aberdeen’s infrastructure committee boss Kate Dean has warned the authority cannot afford to shell-out endlessly without the promise of government cash.

Councillor Dean accepted the council had a statutory obligation to fix the most severe problems.

She added: “We have to know the government has money available to use before we could go over budget on this.”

Meanwhile, Aberdeenshire Council roads boss Iain Gabriel today said it had not received a single complaint or claim for damage over potholed roads.

He added: “The severe weather will have had an impact on the condition of road surfaces and we expect to be dealing with more potholes in the coming weeks.”

smcdonald@ajl.co.uk