Bewildered motorists are questioning a cash-strapped council’s logic after maintenance crews painted new road markings directly over deep potholes rather than repairing the crumbling surface beneath them.

Frustrated drivers in Mold, North Wales, were left stunned this week after council crews applied fresh white paint across cratered road surfaces.

Highway officials have since admitted that a ‘limited budget’ has made it impossible to fund full repairs for the area.

Local motorist Jamie Lee Collins, 37, expressed disbelief that council teams opted for a ‘fresh lick of paint’ over urgent structural repairs. 

The daily commuter noted that he has been forced to memorise the exact location of every crater to prevent his car from being damaged. 

‘I just try to avoid them but you shouldn’t have to because it’s dangerous. If you don’t, you’ll break your car.’

Jamie revealed that he was forced to replace the shock absorbers on both his and his partner’s vehicles following extensive pothole damage. 

He noted that he was only ‘lucky’ to be ‘handy with mechanics,’ which spared them from a significantly higher repair bill. 

Thirty-seven-year-old local driver Jamie Lee Collins voiced his disbelief, questioning why council teams chose to apply a ‘fresh lick of paint’ rather than addressing urgent structural repairs

Flintshire County Council defended the decision by stating that their limited pothole budget is being directed ‘where it is needed most’

Flintshire County Council said the pot-hole budget was directed ‘where it is needed most.’

Katie Wilby, the council’s chief officer for street scene and transportation, said: ‘Routine safety inspections take place on all adopted roads in the county.

‘During these inspections officers will determine whether any defects meet our invention criteria. This includes the condition of road markings, and repainting faded markings is important for safety.

‘The county council has a limited budget for resurfacing, and conditions surveys are used to allow for resources to be directed to the roads in the worst condition.

‘We do not have the resources required to resurface all roads prior to line remarking when re-lining works are needed.’

 ‘People are struggling for money and then have to take their car to the garage. I’ve spent hours doing repairs myself so I only have to pay for the parts,’ he said.

‘I feel sorry for people who are struggling and have to pay for repairs.’

According to monitoring data, the Labour-run council paid 50 per cent (82 out of 164) of compensation claims from drivers for pothole damage. 

This comes as town halls face losing record sums for fixing roads under tough new rules being drawn up by ministers aimed at ending the ‘pothole plague’.

The ‘carrot and stick’ strategy will see ministers withhold a quarter of the cash earmarked for councils unless they share more performance data with the Government on repairs.

Ministers will also block councils from spending money earmarked for road maintenance on other things to ensure money for pothole-filling makes it to the pock-marked frontline.

While the strategy has been used before, only one council lost their cash last year under more lenient rules.

Ministers are now planning to beef them up and withhold funds from any council given a ‘red’ performance rating, with nearly a dozen currently in this category.

The tougher rules should be in place as early as next month, according to Government sources.

Derek Bennett, 68, pictured outside St Albans Crown Court, took action after becoming fed up with the potholes in streets in his home village of Berkhamsted in Hertfordshire and nearby Hemel Hempstead

Unclassified road Ivy House Lane in Berkhamsted must be repaired by Hertfordshire County Council after a crown court judge backed Mr Bennett’s application

Earlier this month, it was reported that a frustrated motorist forced a council to fix three pothole roads after taking them to court using little-known legislation.

Derek Bennett, 68, took action after becoming fed up with the dire condition of streets in his home village of Berkhamsted in Hertfordshire and nearby Hemel Hempstead.

He filed a notice under section 56 of the Highways Act 1980, which states that highway authorities must maintain roads at public expense.

After the county council failed to respond to the applications in the ‘proper manner’, the matter came before St Albans Crown Court – where Judge Andrew Johnson ordered the work to be completed within 20 working days.

He also awarded costs of £1,650 to the retired construction project manager for time he said he’s spent ‘faffing about’ on the cases.

Mr Bennett, who described the state of Britain’s roads as a ‘national disgrace’, told the Mail: ‘I’m doing this as a public service but I can’t over my own area, let alone the rest of the country.  

The Government has committed a record £7.3billion towards pothole spending between next month and the end of the decade.

A report last week said the government’s 17 per cent spending boost for this financial year (2025/26) had ‘marginally’ improved the condition of local roads after years of ‘dramatic underspending’.

But the annual Asphalt Industry Alliance (AIA) study also found the repair bill to fix Britain’s pock-marked local roads has jumped to £18.6billion – up from £17billion last year.

And local roads are being resurfaced on average every 97 years, up from 93.

Almost half of local roads (49 per cent) in England and Wales are set to crumble and become unusable within 15 years, while one in six will do so within the next five years, the report added.

Figures from the RAC estimate a typical repair bill for pothole damage worse than a puncture is £590 for a family car.