Haringey Borough Council paid out more than £37,000 in compensation over four years to motorists whose cars were damaged by potholes.

The Tottenham and Wood Green Independent submitted a Freedom of Information request that revealed 52 drivers claimed damages from the council after their cars hit potholes.

The claims total £37,616.11.

Potholes are caused when rainwater seeps into a road, and then freezes and expands, cracking the asphalt. In this way, holes are widened when rain washes loose debris away.

Last year was the wettest winter on record, meaning cars were left with punctured tyres and buckled wheels from crumbling road surfaces.

The highest payout for a single claim in Haringey was £7,440, which was settled after a motorist damaged his car in Salisbury Road, Wood Green.

The second highest pay out was £3,051 for damage caused on Downhills Park Road in Tottenham followed in third place by £1,987 for damage received in Creighton Avenue, Muswell Hill.

The worst road in Haringey for pothole damage was St Ann’s Road in Tottenham, where four cars were damaged, with claims totalling £1,832.07.

Other notable roads include Watermead Way in Tottenham which had three claims totalling £3,428 and Creighton Avenue in Muswell Hill, which also had three claims with a similar total of £3,442.

The area worst affected was Tottenham, with 20 claims across N17 and N15 totalling £13,547 - more than a third of pay outs across the borough.

A total of 24 successful claims in all worth £20,194.72 were made across Wood Green, Crouch End and Muswell Hill.

The smallest payout from the council was £45, paid out twice for incidents on Lyndhurst Road in Wood Green and Pemberton Road in Manor House.

Department of Transport statistics show that since 2010, an additional 2,262 miles of local roads needed maintenance.

In May 2013 Haringey Borough Council announced plans to invest £1.5 million into its road maintenance programme in a bid to fight the scourge of potholes following a particularly long and harsh winter.

The council also halved the pothole intervention threshold, the depth potholes must reach before being repaired, to just 25mm on main roads and 30mm on residential streets to try to combat the problem.

People were also encouraged to report potholes using a dedicated hotline, via the council website, by email or through Twitter using #Haringeypotholes.