Thousands of drivers complained of damage caused by potholes in Kent last year - but just one in every 10 claims was successful.

That compares with almost one in four (23%) in Great Britain as a whole.

Kent was the county with the third highest claims in England between 2013 and 2014 - with 2,321 drivers believing they were owed compensation after damage to their vehicles.

That's a staggering 92% increase in claims on the previous year, 2012/13.

But just 224 of those - or just under 10% - was successful.

Only neighbouring Surrey and Essex had higher claims - although Surrey paid out one in every five claims.

In England, Scotland and Wales more than 48,000 claims were made - that's one every 11 minutes.

RAC spokesperson Philip Gomm said of the national figures: "These are big numbers and indeed probably just the tip of the iceberg because a lot of councils try and put people off making compensation claims and a lot of people would have been put off by just doing the paper work.

"Clearly if you're going to go through with this you'll be faced with filling in lots of forms.

"Councils themselves want to deter you from applying for compensation.

"They'll say drivers are taking money which could be better spent on other services they provide but I think what we would say is that it's up to government to properly fund councils so that the road network is well maintained and then we wouldn't be in this situation. We wouldn't have 48,000 claims each year.

"I think prevention is better than cure with this problem. There isn't a great deal of cash floating around but we need to protect and look after the assets we've already got."

Kent County Council has been contacted for a comment.