THE most pothole-ravaged roads in Scotland have cost taxpayers at least £108,000 in compensation payouts over the last five years.
A new list reveals the streets and carriageways across Scotland which have racked up the biggest compensation bills for councils as motorists claim for damage.
Nearly half was shelled out by Scotland's largest local authority after unrepaired potholes in the Glasgow section of Balmore Road generated 246 complaints from drivers.
Glasgow City Council spent almost £50,482 settling compensation claims in relation to the A-road, which runs from Possilpark in the south of Glasgow to Torrance in East Dunbartonshire, between April 2009 and September this year.
Only 18 of Scotland's 29 mainland councils were able to provide information on which road in their area had cost them the most in pothole payouts, however, so the true cost of Scotland's worst offending stretches of tarmac is likely to be significantly higher.
Forest Road in Cumbernauld cost North Lanarkshire council £8,164.95 to settle 62 compensation claims with drivers.
Edinburgh and Aberdeen's worst roads recorded similar numbers of complaints and costs but, even combined, were dwarfed by Glasgow.
Kirk Brae in the affluent Aberdeen suburb of Cults racked up 51 pothole complaints and has cost the council £4,702.30 in payouts, while the capital's pothole hotspot was Riccarton Mains Road with 57 complaints and £4,643.24 in compensation.
Although harsh weather - particularly freeze and thaw cycles in winter - creates potholes in the first place by cracking the tarmac, motoring organisations such as the RAC have blamed cash-strapped councils "patch and dash" approach for exacerbating the problem.
In February this year it emerged that local authorities in Scotland had paid out £2.7 million in compensation in the five years to April 2013 - equivalent to £1600 a day. Glasgow City Council accounted for 60 per cent of the payouts.
Besides Glasgow and North Lanarkshire, Dumfries and Galloway, Inverclyde and Renfrewshire councils forked out the most in pothole compensation for a single road in their area.
The B6357, which connects the villages of Annan and Canonbie, attracted 72 complaints and cost Dumfries and Galloway council more than £6,500 in settlements. In Inverclyde, the A761 Bridge of Weir Road in Kilmacolm was the main trouble spot, generating 36 complaints and almost £6000 in compensation.
Meanwhile, Kilbirnie Road in Lochwinnoch, Renfrewshire attracted 72 complaints from drivers, who subsequently pocketed around £5,900 in payouts.
The cheapest of Scotland's "worst roads" was in East Lothian, where 11 complaints about potholes on Elphinstone Road in Tranent have cost the council less than £140 to date.
A spokeswoman for Glasgow City Council said: "We have invested more than £350,000 on carriageway resurfacing and permanent patching on Balmore Road which has significantly reduced the number of claims received."
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