THE extent of the pothole problem facing Kent drivers has been revealed by figures released by Kent Highways.

In the six months from July last year, the West Kent highways area – which includes Maidstone, Tonbridge and Malling – received 1,684 reports of potholes from the public, a rate of 280 per month. But following on from the recent bout of severe weather, there were 766 new reports in January alone.

The potholes are blamed on water seeping into cracks in the road surface, which then expands on freezing, cracking the road open.

KCC has already responded to the problem by throwing an extra £500,000 into the road repair budget and creating 15 more road-repair teams to join the 39 already tackling the problem.

Spokesman Phil Scrivener said:” We now have 54 teams assigned to filling in potholes - compared, for example, with 22 the same time last year.

“But we are currently having five times the number of pothole reports as we had in October, for example.”

When Kent Highways receives a report of a pothole, an inspector visits to assess the potential hazard. If the pothole is classified as dangerous, Kent aims to fix it within two-and-half hours. If it is hazardous, it is fixed within five days. Anything less serious goes into the general pool, and the waiting time is currently around 24 days.

Mr Scrivener said: “Our teams are proactive. They don’t just respond to those that have been reported. We actively inspect the carriageways for trouble. And if a team is called to repair one pothole in the road and finds there are others, they will fix those at the same time.”

Mr Scrivener urged the public to report any potholes they find, either online at www.kent.gov.uk/highways or by phone to 08458 247 800.