MOTORISTS face a pothole "postcode lottery" as councils battle to repair roads damaged by the severe winter.

Tens of thousands of holes have appeared in roads across Devon and Cornwall after the coldest winter since 1978-79 and teams of council workers have been working flat out to repair the surfaces.

However, it has now emerged councils disagree on what constitutes a pothole.

Cornwall Council and Plymouth City Council said a hole qualified if it was at least 40mm (1.6in) deep.

Torbay Council said they also had to be at least 10mm (0.4in) wide while Devon County Council said, in normal circumstances, they had to be at least 300mm (11.8in) wide.

Concerns have been raised as councils struggle to deal with the financial impact of the repairs as the squeeze comes on public spending.

"Cornwall Council defines a pothole as damage to the road surface which is at least 40mm deep – this represents the average thickness of the top road layer," a spokesman said.

"The council highways service deals with approximately 5,000 potholes a year on average, but the extremely cold weather in the region this winter has meant that the council may have dealt with 5,000 potholes by the end of March.

"The service has just commissioned three road mending units, which consist of a bespoke lorry-mounted unit capable of carrying materials in hot storage compartments and all the associated tools, to deal with potholes.

"At least a dozen gangs have been deployed across Cornwall since the onset of the freezing weather repairing and patching roads that have experienced significant damage.

"The cost of these initial repairs will be in the region of £1.5 million with further estimated costs of £4 million for repairs to be carried."

A spokesman for Devon County Council said it was "filling all potholes regardless of size in an attempt to recover the winter damage".

"In normal circumstances though, we concentrate efforts on potholes considered a safety defect, exceeding 300mm wide and 40mm deep," he said.

"The recent winter has been the coldest for 30 years, causing millions of pounds of damage to Devon's 8,000 miles of roads, which is the biggest highway network of any local authority in the country. Since January, the council has filled 30,000 potholes around the county, which is roughly six to seven times more than they would usually expect."

Other variations of a pothole exist across the country.

Worcestershire County Council said they had to be 200mm (7.9in) in area and 40mm deep, whereas in Bath and North East Somerset a crack only needs to be 1.2in (30mm) deep before it warrants attention.

In Cheshire West and Chester, inspectors are charged with identifying only holes deeper than 50mm (2in) while in Hounslow, Middlesex, holes have to be 75mm (3in) deep.

Paul Watters, from the AA, said: "It is a pain that there are all these differences. There is a code of good practice which says anything that is 20mm (0.8in) in depth needs investigating."

- Is your road a plagued with potholes? Fill out the reader comment below and let your council know your road to ruin.