THE number of people successfully claiming compensation for damage to cars caused by faulty road surfaces and pot-holes has dropped by almost half.

The number of drivers who received cash from Bolton Council for road-related claims in 2014 was 68 — a 47 per cent drop on the 128 successful claims made in 2013.

The council has also seen a similar drop in the overall number of claims that it has received, with 159 made in 2013 and just 84 received last year.

In 2013, the authority paid out just short of £38,000 in compensation claims, which fell to about £19,000 in 2014.

This drop represents a major success for the council, especially when compared to figures of five years ago.

In 2010 there were 200 compensation claims made for road-related car damage, with 136 of them successful, resulting in council compensation payments of £71,396.

The council said the falling number of claims was down to a concerted effort to regularly check roads for damage and to fix problems as quickly as possible.

Cllr Nick Peel said: “It is very pleasing to see these results because that money is wasted as it comes out of the highways budget.

“The way we have done this is through a good responses service who react to any defects as quickly as possible.

“The courts understand that councils cannot be expected to be aware of every single defect across the whole of Bolton at all times — but we carry out regular inspections and if we spot a defect we will repair it.”

Bolton News reader John Entwistle, who was awarded almost £1,000 for damage to his father’s car, said: "The car suffered two buckled wheels and two damaged tyres because of a pothole in Marsh Lane in Farnworth.

“The council had previously been informed about the pothole and not repaired it before the damage was done.”

Cllr Peel added: “Successful claims will be such cases where a defect has been known about and damage has been done before we have got out to fix it — and that is fair enough.”