The crumbling road 'crisis' has been laid bare again after it was revealed Exeter's highway authority is forking-out big sums of money in pothole compensation.
Drivers in Devon received £673,000 from pothole damage in the last six years as spending on road repairs continues to soar, according to the latest figures.
Around half of all pothole claims from motorists over the past three years were rejected by Devon County Council – but the authority's combined hand-outs between 2008 and 2013 were 15 times greater than in Cornwall.
The figures, released to the BBC from local authorities, showed a total of £807,033 was paid-out across the Westcountry.
Councillor Stuart Hughes, of Devon County Council, said: "We're seeing extensive damage right across Devon's 8,000 miles of roads, which is the biggest highway network of any authority in the country.
"We have seen pothole numbers increase from about 2,000 a month in a normal winter to about 7,400 in January alone. In response, we have almost tripled the number of teams dealing with pothole safety defect repairs from 13 to 34, with an extra 52 staff tackling the problem."
A Devon ambulance driver revealed this week that seriously ill patients were being forced to endure bumpy rides to hospital because of potholes.
"Some of the holes in the roads are horrendous. You see some which are 12 to 18 inches deep," he told the Echo's sister paper The Plymouth Herald.
According to the Annual Local Authority Road Maintenance Survey 2013, the average cost to fill a pothole in England is £52 and the total amount spent filling potholes in the past year in England was £99 million.
The number of claims for pothole damage rose by 750 per cent in the worst hit areas during the wettest winter in England and Wales since 1766.
The AA described Government emergency help totalling £383million as a "drop in the ocean" of what is needed.
AA president Edmund King said: "We are getting a lot of reports from motorists that many local roads are treacherous to wheels, tyres and suspension. These roads are dangerous especially for people on two wheels."
Councillor Peter Box, chairman of the Local Government Association's Economy and Transport Board, said: "The unprecedented recent flooding experienced across the country has left behind a trail of destruction to our highways.
"Our roads are now in such disrepair that it will take more than a decade and £12 billion to bring them up to scratch."
