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Pothole-plagued roads crippling small businesses with £500 in repairs and lost customers

There are calls for a nationwide pothole compensation claim form to be rolled out and promoted by councils

SMALL businesses claim they are being crippled by pothole-plagued roads.

Nearly half have reported damage or disruption in the past year, according to research.

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Small businesses claim they are being crippled by pothole-plagued roadsCredit: PA

A quarter of firms say they have paid more than £300 to repair pothole damage.

Additionally, 13 per cent have been stung for more than £500 in the past 12 months.

The research by the Federation of Small Businesses found that as well as ­damaging work vehicles, potholes are causing firms to miss meetings, lose customers and suffer delays.

The FSB wants the £500million pledged for road repairs in last month’s Budget to be ringfenced exclusively for fixing ­potholes, and for it not to be absorbed into wider ­transport projects.

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The organisation is calling for the £500m pledged for road repairs in the Budget to be ring-fenced.

It also wants a nationwide pothole compensation claim form to be rolled out and promoted by councils.

The FSB said: “Small businesses are currently under the cosh with increasing costs across the board.

"Having to pay out to fix costly damage from a vehicle or dealing with other disruption is the last thing they need.”

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New data compiled from 18 local authorities by the RAC show some regions experiencing spikes in claims by up to 366%.

Potholes are a plague – we’ll repair extra one million a year, Starmer vows
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