POTHOLE-related breakdowns have surged by 63 per cent this year, the RAC has revealed.

In total, RAC patrols dealt with more than 6,500 breakdown jobs between January and March 2017 attributable to poor road surfaces, such as broken suspension springs, damaged shock absorbers or distorted wheels.

The last time so many pothole-related breakdowns were recorded was in the first quarter of 2015 when patrols were called out to nearly 6,900 such breakdowns. That quarter, however, saw both more frost days and rainfall than the equivalent period this year.

Haslemere Tyre City staff member George Ilsley confirmed the growing scale of the pothole problem:

“It’s certainly got worse,” he said. “We are seeing a lot more each week. It’s not only tyre damage and bulges but in some cases bent and cracked wheels.

“For the more exotic makes, such as a BMW, a single tyre can cut more than £100 and if the wheel is damaged as well, that’s £300 to £400. It’s a countrywide problem and everything on the financial side is being stretched.

“Certainly the roads aren’t being looked after as well as they have been.”

The RAC report coincided with reports of damage caused by “the biggest pothole ever” on the brow of the hill on the road from Haslemere to Liphook.

“I was on a motor scooter and as it was in the centre of the road it nearly threw me off,” a Liphook resident reported on the community website. “It has buckled and flattened my rear wheel and tyre and damaged the suspension.”

Hampshire County Council said its highways teams repair more than 10,000 potholes every year, while Surrey says the first phase of Operation Horizon, to make its roads more pothole-proof, has improved around 250 miles of Tarmac.

Phase two is set to launch in April 2018 after the final list of roads to be improved by 2021, including those selected by local committees, is drawn up.

The latest Annual Local Authority Road Maintenance (ALARM) survey published by the Asphalt Industry Alliance (AIA) based on data provided by local authorities indicates the backlog of maintenance is largely unchanged over the last year.

AIA data indicates most local authorities still cannot afford to make in-roads into the backlog of preventative maintenance in order to stop potholes forming in the first place – and it would only take a period of extreme adverse weather for many roads to return to the poor state of a few years ago.

RAC chief engineer David Bizley said: “Our figures sadly show a surprising and unwelcome first quarter rise in the number of breakdowns where the poor quality of the road surface was a major factor.

“The backlog in preventative maintenance reported by the ALARM survey suggests we are on a knife-edge and it will only take one season of poor weather to take us back to where we were a few years ago.

“Local authorities still have a huge funding gap in their roads budget and until central government is willing to ring-fence sufficient funding to bring local roads back into a state that is fit for purpose, their condition will be subject to the whims of the weather – and they will continue to be the poor relation in the nation’s transport infrastructure.

“New figures show car traffic is at its highest recorded level.

“And, with this week’s General Election, the RAC is calling on whichever party or parties form the next government to make a commitment to invest in all of our roads – by both continuing investment in the strategic road network through the Roads Fund and to ring-fence a proportion of the funds generated from motoring taxation to guarantee the quality of local roads well into the future.”