Some 27,205 callouts to breakdowns due to poor road surfaces in the UK were received by the RAC in the year to the end of March. That compares with 24,906 during the previous 12 months, the motoring services company said.
The new figures are revealed after the RAC said it had been called out for a record number of pothole breakdowns in 2023, as the Government and local authorities fail to get a grasp of the nation's crumbling road crisis.
Nearly 8,000 (7,904) call-outs for pothole-related damage were recorded by the breakdown assistance provider in the first three months of 2024 due to Britain's deteriorating road surfaces.
Roadside patrols have been called to attend an average of 87 pothole-caused breakdowns per day for faults including broken suspension springs, damaged shock absorbers and distorted wheels.
This is 22 per cent fewer pothole-related breakdowns than the RAC attended in January to March 2023 (10,076), which the company attributed to the 'unusually mild weather' seen at the start of this year.
Only seven days of frost (compared to the usual nine) were recorded in the opening three months of 2023, which could have potentially limited the number of brand-new potholes forming.
During winter months, sub-zero temperatures normally cause more surface deterioration as water gets into cracks in the road, freezes and expands.
The RAC's Pothole Index – which measures the likelihood of suffering a pothole-caused call-out - suggested the warmer temperatures have helped the UK to 'dodge a pothole bullet'.
While call-outs for pothole issues were down in the opening quarter of 2024 compared to the same three months in 2023, they were up 53 per cent on the last three months of last year.
The RAC said this is a 'clear sign that the UK is suffering a pothole epidemic as roads continue to crumble'.
And compared to 2006 - when the RAC first began tracking these faults - drivers are now nearly twice as likely to experience pothole damage.