Insurance experts have warned councils over a rise in fake claims for damage to vehicles caused by potholes.
Public sector insurer Zurich Municipal says the number of fraudulent claims over potholes trebled last year.
The company is warning local authorities to be vigilant as the cost of living crisis continues to drive up opportunistic fraud.
Claimants either falsely alleged that their vehicle had been damaged as a result of hitting road defects or exaggerated their claims.
Zurich says an increase in extreme weather conditions caused a rise in the number of road defects last year, leaving greater room for opportunistic fraudsters to falsely claim potholes were responsible for existing damage to their vehicles.
Overall Zurich detected 571 fraudulent claims worth £16.2m made against councils including injury caused by slipping or tripping, an 18% increase on the previous year and worth 68% more.
Most casualty frauds were public liability claims, often relating to publicly owned land.
These included slip and trips that never took place, fabrications where the injury may have been genuine but was not caused by the alleged accident, and exaggerated claims.
Scott Clayton, head of claims fraud at Zurich UK, said: 'It’s vital that local authorities take the current heightened fraud risk seriously.
'While the cost of fraud against councils ultimately impacts the public purse, there are also significant social costs, including the funding of organised crime and costs to the judicial system.'
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