{"id":4384,"date":"2018-05-14T11:32:40","date_gmt":"2018-05-14T10:32:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.devon.gov.uk\/roadsandtransport\/?page_id=4384"},"modified":"2026-05-01T10:21:31","modified_gmt":"2026-05-01T09:21:31","slug":"report-a-pothole","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.devon.gov.uk\/roads-and-transport\/report-a-problem\/report-a-pothole\/","title":{"rendered":"How to report a pothole or road defect in Devon"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Important information&nbsp;before you report a pothole&nbsp;<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>We\u2019re&nbsp;currently experiencing&nbsp;<strong>exceptionally&nbsp;high levels&nbsp;of potholes and carriageway defects<\/strong>&nbsp;across Devon\u2019s road network.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">How&nbsp;we\u2019re&nbsp;responding&nbsp;<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>To keep the network safe,&nbsp;we\u2019ve&nbsp;significantly increased our resources, including:&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>additional&nbsp;repair crews<\/strong>&nbsp;deployed across the county&nbsp;<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>extra inspectors<\/strong>&nbsp;carrying out assessments&nbsp;<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>out of hours&nbsp;working<\/strong>, wherever possible, to keep up with demand&nbsp;<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>Despite these measures, the volume of defects is&nbsp;unprecedented, and this is placing extreme pressure on our teams.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">How you can help&nbsp;<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Public reporting plays a vital role in helping us&nbsp;identify&nbsp;issues between our scheduled inspections. However, we want to be transparent:&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Only around&nbsp;one&nbsp;third of reports&nbsp;we receive turn out to be&nbsp;actionable safety defects&nbsp;under our Highway Safety Policy.&nbsp;<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>A&nbsp;significant number&nbsp;of reports are&nbsp;duplicates of issues already logged, which slows down our ability to respond efficiently.&nbsp;<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">What to do before&nbsp;submitting&nbsp;a new report&nbsp;<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>To help us prioritise and reach the most urgent issues sooner, please <strong>search for the pothole first<\/strong>&nbsp;to see if&nbsp;it\u2019s&nbsp;already been reported.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>If it has,&nbsp;<strong>add your name to the existing report, do not create a duplicate<\/strong>.&nbsp;You\u2019ll&nbsp;still receive updates, and it helps us manage resources more effectively.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Your cooperation makes a real difference. Thank you for helping us keep Devon\u2019s roads safe during this challenging period.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<p>Each report we receive is assessed onsite by a trained highway safety inspector. We do not ignore any reports that we receive, however, we do have to prioritise our funding as we cannot afford to fix all of the problems that are reported to us.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>We prioritise repairing potholes, on roads, that have a 40 mm (4 cm) vertical edge and are 300 mm (30 cm) wide as these are the biggest risk to highway users. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>All reports should be assessed onsite within seven calendar days. Following the assessment, repairs will be carried out by the end of the next working day, seven or 28 calendar days (depending on the outcome of the assessment) if confirmed as a priority pothole.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>We will repair smaller potholes, and other road surface issues, as and when resources are available and as part of our <a href=\"https:\/\/www.devon.gov.uk\/roads-and-transport\/traffic-information\/roadworks\/\" data-type=\"page\" data-id=\"1694\">planned works programmes<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"800\" height=\"278\" src=\"https:\/\/www.devon.gov.uk\/roads-and-transport\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/160\/2021\/03\/pothole-measure-1-800x278.png\" alt=\"2 twenty pence coins demonstrating a height of 40mm and a ruler demonstrating a width of 300 millimetres\" class=\"wp-image-10016\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.devon.gov.uk\/roads-and-transport\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/160\/2021\/03\/pothole-measure-1-800x278.png 800w, https:\/\/www.devon.gov.uk\/roads-and-transport\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/160\/2021\/03\/pothole-measure-1-300x104.png 300w, https:\/\/www.devon.gov.uk\/roads-and-transport\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/160\/2021\/03\/pothole-measure-1-768x266.png 768w, https:\/\/www.devon.gov.uk\/roads-and-transport\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/160\/2021\/03\/pothole-measure-1.png 983w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Please see the images below which illustrate a pothole with a vertical edge:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.devon.gov.uk\/roads-and-transport\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/160\/2018\/05\/pothole.png\" alt=\"A diagram illustrating when a pothole will be classed as an actionable defect.\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.devon.gov.uk\/roads-and-transport\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/160\/2018\/05\/not-pothole.png\" alt=\"A diagram illustrating when a pothole will not be classed as an actionable defect.\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>You can <a href=\"https:\/\/www.devon.gov.uk\/roads-and-transport\/maintaining-roads\/safety\/highways-safety-inspections\/\" data-type=\"page\" data-id=\"572\">find out more about our pothole criteria in our safety inspection policy<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Visit our <a href=\"https:\/\/www.devon.gov.uk\/roads-and-transport\/help-and-support\/#:~:text=not%20my%20responsibility%3F-,Potholes,-How%20do%20I\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Help and Support page<\/a> for frequently asked questions about potholes and other highway matters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Before you start<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>If you are&nbsp;reporting an emergency that is very likely to present an imminent threat to life or serious injury or serious property damage please instead call us on <a href=\"tel:03451551004\">0345 155 1004<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-buttons is-layout-flex wp-block-buttons-is-layout-flex\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-button is-style-dcc-primary-button\"><a onclick=\"dataLayer.push({&apos;buttonEvent&apos;: &apos;Online service&apos;});\" class=\"wp-block-button__link wp-element-button\" href=\"https:\/\/www.devon.gov.uk\/roads-and-transport\/report-a-problem\/report-a-pothole\/report-a-pothole-form\/\">Start now<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Each report we receive is assessed onsite by a trained highway safety inspector. We do not ignore any reports that we receive, however, we do have to prioritise our funding as we cannot afford to fix all of the problems that are reported to us. We prioritise repairing potholes, on roads, that have a 40 [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1076,"featured_media":0,"parent":15599,"menu_order":2,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"class_list":["post-4384","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-05-26 06:56:13","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.devon.gov.uk\/roads-and-transport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/4384","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.devon.gov.uk\/roads-and-transport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.devon.gov.uk\/roads-and-transport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.devon.gov.uk\/roads-and-transport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1076"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.devon.gov.uk\/roads-and-transport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4384"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.devon.gov.uk\/roads-and-transport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/4384\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":26343,"href":"https:\/\/www.devon.gov.uk\/roads-and-transport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/4384\/revisions\/26343"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.devon.gov.uk\/roads-and-transport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/15599"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.devon.gov.uk\/roads-and-transport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4384"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}