LANCASHIRE County Council has been accused of misleading motorists about its performance in filling potholes.

The authority’s highways boss acknowledged a glitch at a meeting of its internal scrutiny committee.

Pendle Rural Liberal Democrat Cllr David Whipp said residents using the online ‘Report It’ system were sometimes given inaccurate information.

He said: “I get extremely frustrated – and so do the public – because you’ll report a defect and then when you look back on the system, there is a blue triangle indicating that the work has been completed. But you then go out and the massive pothole is still there.”

Cllr John Fillis, Labour’s deputy leader, said “The information being put out by the Conservative administration that the roads had improved was clearly misleading. They knew that the information was wrong and have failed to rectify this.”

John Davies, the county council’s highways boss, said: “I’m aware there is an issue with ‘Report It ‘ saying work has been completed when it’s not actually been done. I’m hoping to address that.”

He added the county’s performance figures for pothole repair are taken from a different operational database.