Former Top Gear presenter Quentin Willson has slammed the state of Britain’s roads, describing the conditions as "appalling" and saying roads will soon become a "safety hazard" for drivers.
The ex-TV star claimed that the surface quality is causing “millions of pounds in damage” to vehicles which motorists are having to foot the bill for.
He claims that the repair backlog for Britain’s roads is “epic” and even if the Government started seriously tackling the problem now it would take "£15 billion over 15 years" to remedy the nation's pothole nightmare.
This would require a serious step change in how the problem with potholes is addressed, with new materials and new technology needed to come to the fore to prevent the constant patching that currently takes place.
Speaking to GB News, Willson said: "We’ve had decades of under-investment, and a culture of not putting road transport first.
"Only recently have the Government woken up to the fact that there are 37 million drivers who have had enough. For years policy was centred around getting voters out of cars and onto public transport and 'active travel'.
Britain's roads are plagued with pothole
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"The modal shift to public transport hasn’t happened, and our crumbling roads are a legacy of these previous policies."
The damage caused to motor vehicles by potholes has cost almost half a billion pounds in 2023 alone, according to the Pothole Partnership.
The AA has dealt with over 632,000 incidents in 2023 of wheel, tyre, suspension, and steering damage caused by issues with roads, a considerable increase of 16 per cent when compared to the previous year.
Elsewhere, the Asphalt Industry Alliance (AIA) has said local authorities were expected to fix over two million potholes in this financial year, while their annual report suggested that 17 per cent of the roads in the UK were substandard.
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has previously declared that £8.3bn of funding would be used to tackle what he called the "scourge of potholes" across the nation.
Labour has been contacted for comment by GB News regarding the nation’s pothole crisis, but the party has yet to provide any response.
In response, Conservative MP Greg Smith, a member of the Transport Select Committee, warned: "There’s a clear crisis across Britain’s roads. The past couple of winters have really torn up many of our roads and councils are struggling to cope.
"My own council has a £100 million programme to fix our roads, but even that isn’t enough to get the job done quickly enough."
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Top Gear's Quentin Willson has slammed the state of Britain's pot-hole-ridden roads
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Smith added: "Central funding has also been spent on vanity projects like HS2, over real people’s needs.
"We need to stop nonsense like HS2 and spend the money on what people actually want - smooth roads that are safe to drive on."
The country’s cold and wet weather means that the roads in the UK are more vulnerable to potholes and campaigners feel that local authorities and central Government should do more given the increased vulnerability.
Mark Morrell, who has been dubbed Mr Pothole, said: "The failing condition of our roads is a national scandal and getting worse each year. Rated 37th in the world for the quality of our roads. Yet we are a G7 nation.
"There needs to be a multi-billion annual resurfacing programme carried out every year. Potholes are only the symptom of badly maintained roads.
"We need long-term planning in the maintenance of our vital road networks. Better engineering decisions of use of materials. More training and quality control of works."
