Pothole frequently asked questions
How do I report a pothole?
You can report a pothole using our Report a pothole online form.
How long will it take you to repair a pothole I've reported?
We aim to send an inspector to the site within 10 working days after we've received a report of a pothole. The inspector will then assess the pothole and either repair it immediately or call for the support of a maintenance team depending on its size.
If you have provided an email address when you reported the pothole, we will inform you of what action was taken from this inspection.
Why haven't you repaired a pothole I've reported?
For a pothole to be considered a safety defect it must be at least 40mm deep in the road surface or 20mm deep in a footway for us to investigate and prioritise the repair.
Providing it meets the requirements, a pothole will be prioritised for repair depending on its size, depth and road location. All potholes are inspected, if the requirements are met they will be put into one of these four categories:
- emergency work: repaired within 2 hours
- category 1: repaired by the end of the next working day (Monday-Friday)
- category 2: repaired within 28 days
- category 3: repaired within 90 days
Why are some potholes marked but not immediately repaired?
If the pothole is quite large it will be marked for repair by our inspectors as additional equipment/support will be needed.
What is a pothole and how do they form?
A pothole is a large, deep hole in the road. They are formed when roads freeze and thaw repeatedly. The changes in temperature causes damage to the surface. Layers of the road become unstuck or the surface breaks. As traffic travels over these weakened areas holes appear.
Potholes can appear at any time of year but are more frequent during late winter and early spring.
How do you repair potholes?
For smaller potholes we use a cold bagged material which can be poured into the hole. The material self levels and forms a very hard surface, making the road safe.
For larger potholes we cut out a section of the road around the hole, clear out old material and fill it with hot material.
If a road has lots of potholes it may require more work like patching or resurfacing.
There have been potholes on the road for a while, when will they be repaired?
We might not know about it. You can report a pothole using our Report a pothole online form.
I pay high road tax and petrol prices, so why aren't the roads in better condition?
We do not receive any funding from road tax or petrol tax, this goes directly to central government.
A team came out and fixed a pothole but they didn't do the other one up the road. Why?
Larger potholes require different equipment - sometimes our teams fixing smaller holes don't have the right tools to fix larger ones. Larger potholes are reported back to our larger highways teams to fix.
How often do you carry out inspections?
We inspect every adopted road in Nottinghamshire at least once a year. Inspections are carried out either monthly, quarterly, bi-annually or yearly depending on the use of the road.
