The £160k machine helping repair potholes in Gloucestershire 

• ITV News West Country's Ken Goodwin went to see the machine.

A machine costing £160,000 is being trialled in Gloucestershire as part of efforts to tackle potholes on the county's roads. 

The ‘pothole pro’ weighs 13 tonnes and is a quicker way of fixing the rutted roads according to Gloucestershire County Council.

Motorists in Cheltenham have welcomed the news. 

One resident said: “It’s just so sad I mean, where does all the money go? Who organises this? I don’t know if it is just a real reflection on, in my humble opinion, a collapsing country.”

Another said: “I’ve had two tires burst on my van and my husband had two on his car.” 

One woman said: “It’s horrendous you are trying to go or battle through them you know but it’s awful, really really awful.”

Councillor Mark Hawthorn, Gloucestershire County Council leader, said the roads are in a bad condition due to the weather. 

He said: “We’ve had one of the wettest winters on record in 130 years I think, and we know that that mixture of cold weather and water really does cause damage to our roads. 

“It’s really difficult to actually fix potholes, when it’s still raining and it’s still freezing at night.”

Perry Holder, from Ringway Construction, has been working with the machine. 

He said: “For [a stretch of road] the normal two, three or four-man crew would be here for say four days. We can do this in a day. 

“This machine will essentially do the prep for you. It’ll plane out, it’ll do the joints, but you still need to have a gang to come in later with material and roll it to the right level.”

The pothole pro is part of a package of measures being brought in by the council in the hope of sorting out Gloucestershire's bumpy roads.