The company’s ‘Potholemaster’ - a new variant on its backhoe loader – is designed to provide a permanent fix for the holes. The launch comes as the government makes an additional £200m available in the Budget for councils to tackle the problem.
The self-deployable machine, which can travel at 40kph, has an attachment at the rear called a patch planer which is equipped with 45 steel teeth to grind away the surface of the pothole and surrounding road.
Once that job is complete, the digger drives backwards and then forwards over the ground-out pothole, sweeping up the resulting dust, dirt and debris with sweeper collector on the front of the machine. A sound base is created to fill the hole for a permanent repair of the pothole.
Backhoe loader growth managing director Yvette Henshall-Bell said: “We’ve had a team of engineers working closely with the highways industry for the past six months to ensure we develop products the sector wants and needs. Potholes are a huge issue for UK motorists and in lots of cases the repairs are nothing more than sticking plaster solutions. With the JCB Potholemaster we are offering a cost-effective, permanent solution for fixing potholes in an attempt to help rid Britain of the pothole menace.”
More than two million potholes a year are filled across England and Wales and millions of pounds in compensation is paid every year to motorists whose vehicles are damaged.
Henshall-Bell added: “The beauty of the JCB Potholemaster is that it has two attachments on one self-deployable machine. Some competitive machines can only carry one attachment, so lots of time is wasted swapping the patch planer and the sweeper. And when the JCB backhoe loader is not mending potholes, it can be equipped with a bucket and an excavator to carry out digging and loading tasks, making it truly versatile.”
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