Written by the fitting team at 24/7 Mobile Tyre Services, Glasgow. Last reviewed: July 2026. Responsible authorities and contact numbers below were checked against official sources on that date. This page is general information, not legal advice.
There is the bang, then the noise changes, then two warning lights come up together. Both nearside tyres, usually. It happens in the dark, in the rain, on a stretch of road you drive every week.
This page does two jobs. The first is getting you safe and moving today. The second, once you are home, is giving your claim the best chance it has.
Let us be straight about one thing up front. With two tyres down, the spare will not save you. That is why most of these calls end with either a flatbed or a mobile fitter.
Quick answer: Stop somewhere safe, put your hazards on, and do not drive on two flat tyres, because you will destroy the wheels. Photograph the pothole, the damage and the location before anything is moved or repaired. In Glasgow, claims for local roads go to Glasgow City Council. Motorways and trunk roads are maintained by Amey on behalf of Transport Scotland.
The first ten minutes: safety before evidence
Get off the carriageway if the car will move slowly and safely. A short, slow crawl to a safe spot is better than sitting in a live lane.
If it will not move safely, hazards on, everyone out, and behind a barrier where there is one.
Do not drive on a flat. In fitter’s terms: the tyre rolls off the bead, the rim runs directly on the road surface, and a £120 tyre problem turns into a £400 wheel problem within a few hundred metres.
On a motorway or fast dual carriageway, treat this as an emergency. Leave the vehicle by the nearside door, get behind the barrier, and do not attempt a wheel change on the hard shoulder. Our guide on a flat tyre on a smart motorway covers this properly.
If the defect is a danger to others, report it immediately. Glasgow City Council’s emergency line is 0800 373635. For motorways and trunk roads, Traffic Scotland is on 0800 028 1414. Both should be verified as current before you rely on them.
Only once you are safe do you start collecting evidence.
The evidence that decides your claim
Here is the blunt reality: that pothole may well be filled within days. Once it is filled, your best evidence no longer exists.
Collect all of this before you leave, or as soon as it is safe to do so:
- Photos of the defect from several angles, including one wide shot showing it in context with the road and a recognisable landmark
- A ruler, tape measure or a coin in the shot for scale. Measure length, width and depth, and write the figures down with the date and time
- Photos of both damaged tyres and both wheels, still fitted to the car
- Street name, nearest junction, direction of travel, and GPS coordinates if your phone will give them
- Dashcam footage. Export it and back it up straight away, before the loop overwrites it
- Witness details if anybody stopped
- A Police Scotland incident number if there is injury or significant damage
- Every receipt, invoice and quote, including recovery and fitting
One safety point that overrides all of the above. Do not walk back onto a motorway carriageway to photograph a pothole. Pedestrians on a motorway is both unlawful and genuinely dangerous. Report the location instead and let the operator’s inspector do the measuring.
Who you claim from, and why getting this right matters
Most pothole claim articles online are written for England. They will send you to National Highways and the Highways Act 1980, and neither applies here.
In Scotland the duty sits under the Roads (Scotland) Act 1984, and the responsible body depends entirely on which road you were on.
| Where it happened | Who is responsible | How to report or claim |
|---|---|---|
| Local roads and streets in Glasgow, on the Statutory List of Public Roads | Glasgow City Council | Report the fault via the council’s road fault service, then claim through the council’s process |
| M8, M73, M74, M77, M80 and trunk A roads including the A725, A726, A737, A738, A76, A77, A78 and A8 | Amey, on behalf of Transport Scotland | Amey’s claims process, or Traffic Scotland Customer Care |
| Trunk roads in other Scottish operating units, such as the A82 and A9 corridors | The Transport Scotland operator for that unit, BEAR Scotland in several areas | That operator’s claims route |
| Roads outside Glasgow: Paisley, Hamilton, Motherwell, Ayr, Stirling | The relevant council: Renfrewshire, South Lanarkshire, North Lanarkshire, South Ayrshire, Stirling | That council’s road fault and claims process |
| Private roads, car parks, retail parks | The landowner or managing agent | Direct to the owner or operator |
| Recently excavated by a utility and badly reinstated | Potentially the utility company rather than the roads authority | Note any utility markings in your photos |
Send a claim to the wrong body and it does not get forwarded. It gets rejected, and you lose weeks.
Worth noting: Transport Scotland’s operating contracts change hands periodically, so confirm the current operator for your route before you send anything.
Report the defect first, then claim
Reporting does two things. It timestamps the authority’s awareness of the defect, and it gives you a reference number to quote later.
It is also just the right thing to do. The next car through that hole might be carrying somebody’s kids.
Why most pothole claims fail, and how to give yours a chance
This is the part nobody wants to write, so here it is plainly.
Under the Roads (Scotland) Act 1984, the roads authority has a duty to take reasonable care to maintain the road. That is not the same as being automatically liable. They are not required to make every road perfectly safe at all times.
Then there is the statutory defence. If the authority can show it operated a reasonable system of inspection and repair, and that it actually followed that system, it can defeat your claim even though the defect plainly existed and plainly wrecked your tyres.
So your claim really turns on one question: did they know, or should they have known, about this specific defect and fail to act in time?
The pro move. Request the inspection and repair history for that section of road. Inspection dates, defect logs, and any previous reports of the same pothole.
If that hole was reported three weeks ago and never repaired, the statutory defence gets much weaker. Councils publish their road safety inspection and repair policies, which tells you what frequency they committed to.
On depth. You will see 40mm on a carriageway and 20mm on a footway quoted as thresholds. Treat those as guidance, not law. Location, visibility, traffic speed and prior reports all carry weight.
And honestly: many claims are refused. It is still worth submitting one. It costs you very little, and it puts the defect formally on record whether you win or not.
Council claim versus insurance claim: the maths
Run the numbers before you phone your insurer.
An insurance claim means paying your excess, probably losing part of your no claims bonus, and carrying a higher premium at renewal for years. On a two tyre job, the excess alone may be more than the repair.
The sequence that usually makes sense:
- Pay for the repair yourself and keep every receipt
- Claim from the roads authority
- Only involve insurers if wheels, suspension or bodywork push the bill somewhere serious
If your claim is refused, a small claims route does exist in Scotland. We are tyre fitters rather than solicitors, so get proper advice before going down that road.
It is rarely just the tyres
This is the section written by people who have taken the wheels off afterwards.
A strike hard enough to take out two tyres has also loaded the rims, the geometry and the suspension. Here is what to check.
Sidewall bulge or lump. Not repairable. A bulge means the internal cords have failed, and no repair under BS AU 159 applies to sidewall damage, whatever anyone tells you.
Buckled or cracked rim. A flat spot on the bead seat causes a slow leak that no amount of resealing will cure. A hairline crack in an alloy is a scrap wheel, not a welding job for a road wheel. More detail in our guide to a pothole buckling an alloy wheel.
Air loss over the following days. A pinch shock can damage the internal structure with no external mark at all. If a tyre starts losing pressure a week later, that is why.
Alignment and tracking. A hard strike knocks the geometry out. The symptoms are a pull to one side, or a steering wheel that sits off centre.
Leave that alone and it will eat the inner edge of your new tyres within a few thousand miles. See why a car pulls after new tyres.
Vibration through the wheel or seat. Points at a buckled rim or a damaged tyre. Rebalancing is the minimum.
TPMS sensors. The sensor sits on the valve inside the wheel and can be damaged by a hard strike or a violent deflation. Our TPMS sensor replacement page covers the symptoms, and there is more in why your tyre pressure light stays on.
Suspension. Knocking noises, a changed ride quality, or the car visibly sitting differently. Get it inspected.
Practical sequence: get the tyres fitted, have the alignment checked within a week or two, and re inspect for slow leaks after a few days.
Two flats and one spare: what your options actually are
Most modern cars carry a space saver or, increasingly, just a sealant kit.
A sealant kit is useless against a sidewall split, and a sidewall split is exactly what pothole damage usually produces. Be aware of that before you spend twenty minutes trying.
With two down, you have three routes:
| Option | What it means |
|---|---|
| Recovery to a garage | Flatbed, plus a garage day, plus the tyre bill |
| Mobile fitter to the car | Tyres come to you, car stays where it is |
| Fit the spare, mobile fit the second | Only works if one tyre is genuinely still serviceable |
One practical thing that speeds everything up. Read the size off the sidewall and give it to us when you call. Two matching tyres in the correct size, brought to a roadside at 11pm, is a stock question before it is anything else.
Two jobs that stuck with us
We see a clear spike in these calls after a freeze and thaw cycle. Water gets into a crack, freezes, expands, and the road surface fails. That is why our busiest pothole months run from November through to March.
One customer hit a pothole on Christmas Eve and burst a tyre. Not the evening anybody plans. We were out and had him back on the road in around forty minutes, which mattered a lot more than usual that particular night.
Another customer struck a pothole and was sorted at the roadside inside forty minutes too. Both are on our Google reviews if you want to read them in their own words.
Neither of those was clever work. It is just what having the right tyres on the van at the right hour looks like.
FAQs
Can I claim for pothole damage in Scotland? Yes. The route depends on the road. Local roads go to the relevant council, while motorways and trunk roads go to the Transport Scotland operating company for that unit. The Roads (Scotland) Act 1984 sets the duty, but liability is not automatic.
Who is responsible for potholes on the M8 and M77? Those routes are maintained by Amey on behalf of Transport Scotland. Confirm the current operator before submitting, since contracts are periodically re let.
How deep does a pothole have to be to claim? There is no legal depth threshold. Figures of around 40mm on a carriageway and 20mm on a footway are commonly referenced as guidance. Location, traffic speed, visibility and previous reports all matter as much as depth.
Should I claim on my insurance for pothole damage? Often not for tyres alone. Your excess plus the loss of no claims bonus can easily exceed the cost of two tyres. Insurance makes more sense when wheels, suspension or bodywork are involved.
Can a pothole damaged tyre be repaired? Sometimes, if the damage is a clean puncture within the repairable central area of the tread. Sidewall bulges, splits and cuts into the sidewall cannot be repaired under BS AU 159.
How do I know if a pothole bent my wheel? Typical signs are a vibration that appears after the strike, a slow leak that resists resealing, or a visible flat spot on the rim edge. It often only becomes obvious once the tyre is off the wheel.
Do I need my tracking checked after hitting a pothole? If the impact was hard enough to damage a tyre, yes. Get it checked within a week or two, especially if the car pulls or the steering wheel sits off centre.
Can you fit two tyres at the roadside? Yes, provided we have both sizes on board and the location is safe to work in. Give us the sidewall size when you call and we will confirm stock before we set off.
Two flats and one spare?
That is a call we take most weeks, particularly between November and March.
Tell us the tyre size off the sidewall and where the car is. We will come to it, in Glasgow, on the M8 corridor, or anywhere in Scotland, 24 hours a day.
Rated 5.0 from 66 Google reviews. Average arrival in Glasgow is 30 to 45 minutes.
Call 07955 533000 or message us on WhatsApp.
Services: emergency tyre replacement, mobile tyre fitting in Glasgow, puncture repair to BS AU 159, wheel balancing. We also cover Motherwell, Hamilton, Paisley, Kilmarnock and Ayr.
