JCB delivered an early jubilee present to residents of a pothole-filled Merseyside street – the free use of a specialist machine to fix their road.

Knob Hall Lane – an unadopted road in Southport – was peppered with potholes and residents nominated the street to be repaired in a national competition in the run up to the Platinum Jubilee.

So JCB deployed its new pothole fixer - the JCB Pothole Pro - to repair the worst of the offending craters, teaming up with Sefton-based civil engineering firm Dowhigh Ltd who provided 10 tonnes of tarmac free of charge to reinstate the road.



Residents were so delighted with the work that around 20 of them threw an early Platinum Jubilee street party, complete with bunting and celebration cake, to mark the completion of the work.

Retired head teacher Jane Noble, who has lived on the street with her husband Paul for three years, said: “The potholes were really bad and residents were very concerned that the state of the road was an accident waiting to happen. We are all very appreciative of the work JCB has done today with the Pothole Pro. Not only has it made a real difference to the safety of the road, it has brought all the residents closer together and made the community much stronger. We were all watching the JCB Pothole Pro in action; it created such a lot of interest and really should revolutionise the way potholes are repaired.”

Launched last year, JCB’s Pothole Pro can repair a pothole in less than eight minutes - four times quicker than standard methods and at half the cost of current solutions.

JCB’s Chairman Anthony Bamford has led the project to develop the JCB Pothole Pro. Lord Bamford said: “We are on a mission to help fix Britain’s roads and we are delighted to be able to help residents of this street repair potholes with the JCB Pothole Pro.”

Trevor Murray, of Dowhigh Ltd, said: “We were only too happy to help the residents of the road. We are a local company and they are delighted with the work so it’s a great result all round.”

They are welcome to try the JCB down our cul-de-sac,as one half of the tarmac has worn away...And I'll supply the workers their cups of tea and biscuits while fixing the road surface.