Engineers have admitted they are battling to cope with a rise in the number of potholes reported in the wake of the recent snow and freezing temperatures.

Motorists have been called upon to be the county council’s “eyes and ears” as it works to patch up the area’s roads, although the council said it had no idea of the scale of the problem.

Oxfordshire County Council spokesman Paul Smith said it had not been keeping a running log on the number of reports, merely that there had been a “upturn” and that extra officers had been deployed to carry out the necessary work.

Brian Fell, the county council’s assistant head of transport, had been expecting the melting snow and damp weather to damage road surfaces.

He said: “We weren’t surprised. Potholes always become an increased problem when roads freeze and thaw very quickly.

“It seems minor roads have been more affected than major roads.

“We have to prioritise the worst potholes, which we determine by asking callers for specific information and then going out and inspecting the situation ourselves.”

Potholes form when water seeps into the cracks in a road or pavement, freezes and expands.

Mr Fell appealed to motorists and pedestrians to be vigilant.

He said: “We inspect roads regularly but cannot have our eyes on every square inch of the road network in Oxfordshire.

“We rely on residents to be our eyes and ears and report problems to us.”

Yesterday the county council was unable to say what this year’s highways budget for potholes was, or say whether the upturn in call-outs for potholes had put that budget under strain.

However, in March 2007 we reported the annual budget for highways in Oxfordshire was about £30m — half for major projects and the other half for repairs.

Matthew Lugg, who is chairman of the CSS engineering committee, which represents local authority chief engineering officers, said local councils would have to prioritise their resources to make immediate repairs.

He said: “The weather had a devastating effect on our roads. The repeated freezing and thawing with the abrasive impact of grit caused carriageways to split.”

Waynflete Road in Barton and Kennington Road, running from Abingdon Road to the village of Radley, suffered in the recent weather.

A large pothole also formed at the corner of New Road and Castle Street, Oxford.

Cutteslowe resident Hugh Jaeger, 44, the Oxfordshire representative for the British Motorcyclists Federation and Bus Users UK, said damaged roads were a danger to inexperienced motorists.

He said: “Where the council resurfaces a whole section of road they do a good job.

“What they did to the Northern Bypass and the work they have done in St Clement’s is good, but there are many roads where all they are doing is patchwork because they have a puny budget to maintain the roads.

“Potholes are a big problem, but I think the council is doing its best.”