WATCH: New machine on trial to deal with Peterborough's pothole problems

A machine that could see the end of the Peterborough’s pothole problems has been trialled in the city.

Peterborough City Council have been using the JCB Pothole Pro to see it can signal the end for the road menace that has caused issues for many drivers in the city.

The machine was used in the Ortons this week, and now a review is taking place to see if it can be the solution motorists have been looking for.

A Peterborough City Council spokesperson said: ““With the JCB Pothole Pro this was a trial in Peterborough to see whether this would be appropriate on the Peterborough network and this trial is now complete. The JCB Pothole Pro is back in the depot.

“This machine will carry out the excavation works and prepare the area ready for a gang to reinstate the excavation. We will be assessing the viability of the machine with our term maintenance contractor.”

The machine uses a ‘cut, crop and clean’ system, which sees the pothole – normally at least 3cm deep – planed by the machine. A straight edge would then be cut on the hole, for a permanent fix, with the waste then swept up, before the hole is filled in as normal.

The machine has a number of advantages, including seeing the end to some of the manual work previously needed, including the use of jackhammers.

It is not known when a decision on whether to use the new machine will be made, or how much it would cost the council.