Arriva today said it was considering making a claim against Shropshire’s two main councils after being forced to fork out thousands of pounds fixing buses damaged by potholes.

The company claims it has incurred thousands of pounds in extra costs on broken buses because of damage caused by the potholes, including £2,800 on four buses in the last two weeks.

A final decision will be made by the company’s regional engineer.

Councillor Adrian Lawrence, cabinet member for environment and rural at Telford & Wrekin Council, said Arriva had made no contact with the council in respect of any damage sustained by any of their vehicles.

“As a key partner we are very disappointed that they have chosen to make this public rather than talking to us directly,” he said.

Keith Myatt of Arriva Midlands said: “We’ve had two broken rear springs on buses at the Shrewsbury depot and two in Telford in the last two weeks.

“They cost about £700 a spring, so that’s four that need replacing.

“I have spoken to our area engineer for Shropshire who informed we that they can clearly put this damage down to the potholes on the local roads.

“We have incurred these individual costs.”

Mr Myatt added: “We work very closely with the local authorities and we tell them where we find problems so they can go out and repair them where possible.

“We will be talking to the authorities in due course.”

Councillor Martin Taylor-Smith, Shropshire Council’s cabinet member for transport and IT, said: “We are investing more money into road repairs. We are repairing potholes as quickly as possible because we appreciate the inconvenience they cause to drivers, and of course it’s important to reduce the number of compensation claims.”

Councillor Adrian Lawrence, cabinet member for environment and rural at Telford & Wrekin Council, said Arriva had made no contact with the council in respect of any damage sustained by any of their vehicles.

“As a key partner we are very disappointed that they have chosen to make this public rather than talking to us directly,” he said.

“Repairing damage to our roads caused by poor winter weather remains one of this council’s top priorities.

“This is demonstrated by initiatives such as our pothole busting campaign which has been running for a month and is making a real difference to the problems caused by potholes.

“We have invested significant amounts of money in major road maintenance schemes this year and will shortly be approving a programme of investment in highway maintenance for next year.”