A pothole in Kent costing millions of pounds is the most expensive the UK has seen in more than a decade.

A Freedom of Information (FOI) request revealed an insurance claim cost £4.25million.

The single pothole in Maidstone is the most costly Kent County Council (KCC) has had to fork out for, an investigation from the Mirror newspaper found.

An FOI asking for the top ten payouts from 2010 to 2023 found KCC saw the most expensive combined payout at £4,902,618.

This was followed by Essex County Council which saw £1,916,448.06.

KCC also had to pay out £250,000 on another pothole in the town three years ago.

However, the council says it has an insurance policy in place and only pays an excess fee.

‘Potholes are a road safety menace that have the potential to cause severe injuries or worse...’

This means the amount of money paid by taxpayers as a result of the claim is “significantly less” than £4.25 million.

A KCC spokesperson said: “Ensuring the safety of all road users is a top priority and we prioritise defects to ensure the most critical can be repaired as soon as possible.

“While we are not able to comment on individual settlement cases, we recognise the responsibility we have to make sure our roads are safe to use and keep Kent moving.

“That is why we are spending millions this financial year to repair potholes and other safety critical defects on one of the largest road networks of any local authority in England.

“Anyone who sees a pothole on our road can report it directly to us at www.kent/gov.uk/highways using our highway fault reporting tool.”

RAC head of policy Simon Williams said: “The fact Kent County Council had to pay out such a large sum of money demonstrates just how important it is to keep roads properly maintained and pothole-free.

“Potholes are a road safety menace that have the potential to cause severe injuries or worse. Dangerous potholes need to be filled as a matter of urgency and not left for cyclists, motorcyclists and drivers to encounter.

“Unfortunately, roads all over the country have fallen into disrepair as the amount of maintenance work carried out by councils, such as surface dressing and complete resurfacing, has suffered due to a funding shortfall.

“This is a lose-lose situation as road users then have to fight for compensation, while councils have to fork out funds – a wholly unnecessary situation that both parties could well do without.

“The government has now committed to giving local councils £8.3bn over 11 years, so we hope this means they can start to bring at least some of their roads back up to standard.

“Going forwards, we want to see 2p-a-litre from fuel duty revenue ringfenced for local roads as this would give councils certainty of funding to continue to plan proper long-term maintenance.”

In November, new figures revealed 15 people have died in the last four years as a result of potholes or faults in the road.

The month before, key performance indicators (KPIs) show Kent County Council's (KCC’s) highways team and its contractors fell short on five of its six 2023 targets.

Data revealed the number of potholes require repairs jumped to 5,376 – more than 50% higher than the same period last year.