Scotland has the second worst pothole record

The figures came from an analysis of claims made to the insurance company Warranty Direct.

They have shown that poor road surfaces were leading to a flood of breakdown claims for damaged wheels and suspension, mostly caused by potholes.

In some parts of the UK, motorists have taken councils to court over potholes.

The RAC Foundation has campaigned for years over the state of Scotland's roads.

Head of Campaigns Sue Nicholson said: "The findings don't surprise me at all.

"The backlog of maintenance over the past decades has been quite frightening. Local authorities have been firefighting in a bid to keep up with the backlog."

It's essential that individual motorists and businesses get a fair deal Sue Nicolson RAC Foundation

Ms Nicholson added that she was not hopeful of rapid improvement.

She said: "Motorists pay a large amount of money into government coffers and subsequently to local authorities for the upkeep of their roads.

"It's a vital part of the economy for Scotland and it's essential that individual motorists and businesses get a fair deal."

Garage director Doug Shearer said: "A pothole ruptures the tyre and the shock carries right through the wheel.

"That would cause instant deflation and make the car almost uncontrollable."

POTHOLE CAR DAMAGE East Anglia 28.35% Scotland 21.43% North East 21.07% Greater London 17.74% East Midlands 16.52% North West 14.78% South East 13.60% Wales 12.56% South West 12.50 West Midlands 12.47%

Spokesman for the researchers, Duncan McClure Fisher, said: "We're seeing an ever-increasing percentage in suspension failures on the cars we repair and an awful lot of that is down to the state of the roads."

He denied Scotland's bad record was because of the number of routes in remote country places.

"We look at each area, so we look at it region by region and Scotland is still very high," he said.

"Wales has come out with a percentage of only 12%, whereas Scotland has come out with something like 21%."

Edinburgh City Councillor Andrew Burns admitted there were difficulties.

"I would absolutely accept there is a problem with road maintenance in the city. It's not something that's unique to Edinburgh," he said.

Cash poured in

"All over the United Kingdom there's an historic problem with road maintenance and the level of money that's been put into that maintenance."

But councillor Burns insisted: "We've had an additional �12m plus in both capital and revenue budgets this year.

"We've had some 19,000 defects repaired in the last few months and, of those, over half of them have been done within 24 hours - so there has been a huge increase in the amount of money being spent."

Similar research last year revealed that drivers in Scotland were twice as likely to have their cars damaged by potholes as motorists elsewhere in the UK.