Since 2004 around £361,000 has been paid out by the Roads Service to Mid-Ulster drivers whose vehicles were damaged by pot holes, money which one local MLA says could be better spent on improving surfaces.

Assemblyman Billy Armstrong wrote to Transport Minister Conor Murphy seeking the cost of repairing damage caused to vehicles by the pot holes on Mid-Ulster's roads.

Mr Murphy said his department had paid out £361,000 in the last five years, a figure which Mr Armstrong said is no surprise.

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"This will come as no real surprise to those of us who regularly drive on the roads in Mid-Ulster," he said.

"I have long been campaigning for more resources to be directed to improving the state of our roads, and am in no doubt that the £361,000 would be better spent repairing the roads in the first place, rather than paying for the damage caused by their poor state."

Mr Armstrong said the current state of the local roads present a poor image to tourists, likening some of the stretches to the "sort of thing one might expect to see in a third-world country".

"No-one would deny that an upgraded roads infra-structure is vital to our economy. It is vital that the Department of Regional Development (Roads Service) spends its resources wisely. As the saying goes, prevention is much better than cure," he added.

(PR/JM)