Potholes lead to £30k compensation over three years

More than £30,000 has been paid out in compensation to drivers for damage caused to vehicles by potholes, the infrastructure minister has said.

Tim Crookall confirmed more than 100 claims made against the Manx government had been successful since 2023.

He said, under the Isle of Man Highways Act 1986 it was the Department of Infrastructure's duty "maintain every highway maintainable at the public expense".

However, he said in order for a claim to be successful, the department "would need to be made aware of a defect prior to any incident and have failed to take timely action to repair it".

Outlining the cost of the successful claims in the House of Keys, Crookall said claims totalling £10,132, £13,442 and £6,467 were paid out by the government's insurers over the past three financial years respectively.

People on the island are encouraged to report issues with the roads, such as potholes, either online, through an app, or by telephoning the highways division.

Jason Moorhouse asked whether there were exceptions to claims being accepted when the damage was caused by a road defect, regardless of whether it had been reported or not.

In response Crookall told politicians: "If the department are aware of it and haven't had the chance to rectify that, and then something happens, we are responsible for that.

"We're not responsible for it if we don't know about it."

He said the department had admitted liability in 52% of the claims made in 2023-24, 65% the following year, and 81% last year.

Claims made were handed to the insurers to deal with, he said, and those rejected that were then contested would have to go through the court.

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