Pothole breakdowns triple as rainy start to 2026 makes UK's bad roads worse
Over 6,000 drivers – the equivalent of 225 per day – reported that they broke down after hitting a pothole in February
An average of 225 pothole-related breakdowns were reported to the RAC every day in February, the organisation says. This is more than three times the number of similar callouts at the same time last year – and has been attributed to one of the wettest starts to the year in recent memory.
Throughout February, almost 6,300 drivers – the equivalent of 225 per day – cited hitting a pothole as a contributing factor towards their breakdown when reporting it to the RAC. This figure peaked at 336 on Friday 6 February, which is two-and-a-half times more than the firm’s record of 141 on 19 December 2025.
Given that an average of just 66 pothole-related callouts occurred each day in February last year, you might be wondering why this figure has gone up. According to the RAC’s head of policy, Simon Williams, “In February there was an incredible amount of standing water and puddles on our roads, many of which were hiding potholes, which sadly too many drivers fell foul of.
“While this amount of rain is hard for the saturated land to cope with,” Williams continued, “the RAC suspects that poor drainage may also be to blame, possibly as a result of councils not carrying out as much of these works as they have done in the past.”
The conditions after heavy rain in the winter can be a breeding ground for potholes as the water permeates gaps within the asphalt, only to then freeze and expand when the outside temperature cools. This slowly creates a bigger and bigger crater, although such a process can be prevented via a method known as surface dressing.
According to the Road Emulsion Association – the trade body that represents bitumen manufacturing businesses – sales of bitumen emulsion necessary for road dressing rose by 25 per cent in 2025 compared with 2023. However, the association’s consultant and secretary, Kevin Maw, pointed out that this is “still 32 per cent below the amount applied in 2012 before the start of an 11-year decline in the use of this key preventative maintenance process”.
Did you know you can sell your car through Auto Express? We’ll help you get a great price and find a great deal on a new car, too.
