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The quality of UK roads may be worsening, new research has suggested.
According to breakdown organisation the RAC, there has been a 31% increase in pothole-related faults attended by its patrol team in the second quarter of 2017 compared with the same period last year.
Between April and June, the company went to the rescue of 3,566 motorists compared with 2,725 breakdowns in 2016.
The firm's Pothole Index -a 12-month rolling average of pothole-related breakdowns corrected to remove longer-term effects of weather and improved vehicle reliability - also suggests that roads are worsening after five quarters of improvement.
As of Q2 2017, the index stood at 2.2 ? having begun at the base of 1.0 in 2006 ? an increase on Q1 2017 when it stood at 2.08, the lowest figure recorded since Q4 2008.
In addition, pothole-related breakdowns accounted for 1.6% of all RAC jobs, the fourth-highest figure since the RAC began analysing potholes in 2006.
"After a period of steady improvement, it is disappointing to see an unwelcome rise in the number of pothole-related breakdowns RAC patrols dealt with in the second three months of the year when compared to the same period in 2016," said RAC chief engineer David Bizley. "The most worrying aspect, however, is the fact that this year's weather has been so much milder and drier than in the equivalent six months last year and, for this reason, we should have expected the numbers for the second quarter to be lower."
He added: "A short-term reversal in the fragile improvement in surface quality of the UK's roads may not seem much to be concerned about but we fear it would only take a spell of very cold or wet weather for the improvements of the last year or two to evaporate and for the nation to find itself in a situation when we would once again be seeking emergency funding from government to address the worst-affected roads."
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