Council chiefs have unveiled their latest high-tech weapon in their war on Edinburgh's potholes.
The authority has invested in a new machine that promises permanent repairs to broken up roads. Responsibility for operating the nifty piece of kit lies with Pilton resident, Andrew Stone, 23.
He has undergone intensive training to operate the JCB Pothole Pro which has been nicknamed by some as the 'Pothole Killer.' The city council has rented the specialist machine for six months at a cost of £600-a-month. And its makers reckon it can carry out repairs in a quarter of the time and at half of the cost - coming in at £30 instead of £60 in only eight minutes.
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At Edinburgh Live we caught up with the man behind the machine which will hopefully fix Edinburgh's roads for good.
Former apprentice Andrew said: "I've only told my mum and she is really proud of me as it's a big machine and such a big job to get on with.
"I am still learning, I've only been on it three weeks but the more you are on it the more you are learning. Hopefully I can become an expert on this and be amazing. I've been told I am going to be a busy buy on this as it is going to be busy machine. I like machines, I am machine daft so when I was offered to be behind the wheel of this I took the offer in a heartbeat."
Andrew started at Edinburgh City Council five years ago and completed his two-year apprenticeship which led to his full-time employment. Other councils across Scotland including the Borders and Fife have already started deploying the Pothole Pro on their streets.
Andrew went onto say he feels "a wee bit responsible" being on the frontline repairing Edinburgh's roads. He said: "It's brilliant and you are getting the job done a lot faster, it is more consistent than the way we used to do it and depth wise it's good.
"It's a fair size to get used to, it's fast, it's tall, big and it stands out from a mile away."
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Transport Convener, Cllr Scott Arthur, said: "I have inherited a situation where road and footpath maintenance in the city is underfunded. The budget came with its problems but the budget this year gives us an extra £11 million to try and catch up.
"This work here is absolutely part of this so this Pothole Killer machine allows us to work faster, work to the same standard but get the work done faster. It should also allow us to get the depth of the cut just right so it minimises our material use as well.
"It helps cut costs and it helps us with our net zero in a small way and speaking to the staff, here this morning some of them have been trained up to use this machine so it is about upskilling the staff which is fantastic."
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