Scots motorists slam standard of Capital's winter road maintenance

Edinburgh was among the cities which struggled to cope with December and January's plunging temperatures, and came close to running out of salt and grit.

A survey by IPSOS Mori for motoring organisation the RAC Foundation found that 76 per cent of Scots thought not enough salting and gritting had been done, compared with 58 per cent across Great Britain as a whole.

The survey also revealed that 76 per cent of Scots regard potholes and damaged roads as a big problem in their area, with 57 per cent of respondents dissatisfied with road maintenance overall.

When asked which areas of public spending on transport should be protected from possible cuts, road maintenance was top, selected by 78 per cent of the respondents.

Commenting on the results, Professor Stephen Glaister, director of the RAC Foundation, said: "This starkly underlines the huge inconvenience potholes are causing the Scottish public and leaves would-be politicians in no doubt of where voters – no matter what their political persuasion – think transport priorities should lie."

He added: "The attention repeatedly focused on high-speed rail misses the reality of most people's lives, which is that 92 per cent of all passenger journeys take place on the roads."