RAC patrols attended 9% more pothole-related breakdowns in Q2 2025 than in Q2 2024, an ‘unseasonably high’ number.
In Q2, the RAC had 6,575 call-outs for broken suspension springs, damaged shock absorbers and distorted wheels, the breakdowns which are most likely to be caused by potholes.
4,779 of these call-outs were for broken springs alone.
Excluding Q1, which the RAC said is always the worst for potholes, Q2 2025 was the worst quarter in two years for pothole-related breakdowns.
Pothole-related breakdowns accounted for 1.2% of all of the RAC’s call-outs in Q2, the highest proportion in seven years.
Simon Williams, head of policy at the RAC, said: “Although English councils received a record amount of funding for roads at the start of the new financial year in April, it’s too early to notice the benefit of increased maintenance programmes.
“We can clearly see the cold winter weather at the start of the year has left its mark and caused an ‘unseasonable high’ in breakdown volumes during a quarter when we’d typically expect a reprieve.
“With second-quarter RAC call-outs 9% higher than the same period last year, we hope English councils have been putting their allocated funding pots to good work in the summer surface dressing season which runs from April to September.
“We hope drivers will soon start to see the results of both the preventative maintenance and resurfacing works they have done.
“We’re urging all highways authorities to think ‘prevention over patching’ when it comes to their maintenance work.
“After filling the most severe potholes as permanently as possible, preventative treatments like surface dressing are by far the most effective because they stop potholes appearing in future.
“Now councils have long-term certainty of funding, they can plan surfacing dressing works, along with resurfacing roads that are beyond repair.”
In the 12 months to the end of June 2025, the RAC attended 24,763 pothole-related breakdowns, an average of 68 per day.
A separate study conducted by the RAC found that 21% of drivers have had to fit new springs or shock absorbers, the parts most commonly damaged by poor road surfaces.
Mike Hansford, chief executive at the Road Surface Treatments Association, said: “Untreated asphalt roads will naturally degrade over time, leading to the formation of potholes.
“It is essential to invest in cost effective preventative road surface treatments to seal the road; preventing water ingress, and to act as a barrier to the elements and the effects of trafficking, keeping roads in good condition for longer and preventing potholes.”
