CLAIMS made against councils across the country for damage to vehicles caused by potholes fell over the last year, according to the RAC.

The breakdown recovery provider issued Freedom of Information requests to all 207 local highways authorities in England, Scotland and Wales, which indicated that there were 28,971 compensation claims made between 2014 and 2015.

The same figure for the previous year was 48,945.

Of those claims, 6,143 were successful, with about £2m being paid out in total.

Steve Gooding, director of the RAC Foundation, said: “One reading of these figures could be that local roads are in better condition than they were.

“But that does not square with councils’ own assessment that the road maintenance backlog is actually growing, not falling.

“It could instead be that many drivers are put off by the time involved in claiming against a council while councils themselves do their best to deter claimants coming forward.”

North Yorkshire ranked 27th in the country for the number claims, with 253 - 22 of which were successful - and £5,713 was paid out.

Elsewhere in the region, there were two claims in County Durham, worth £367; and in Darlington, there was only one successful claim, worth £72.

One claim in Hartlepool was worth £92; one in Middlesbrough was worth £259 and one in Redcar and Cleveland was worth £72.

In Stockton-on-Tees, two claims resulted in £323 being paid out, while there were six in Gateshead, worth £1,164 and five in Newcastle, worth £2,580.

Four claims in Sunderland totalled £1,175 and 12 claims in South Tyneside were worth £3,614.

There were no successful claims in North Tyneside or York during the same period.