Council to meet JCB after rejecting pothole fixer

Leicestershire County Council has said it will meet JCB bosses after it was revealed the authority concluded the firm's Pothole Pro vehicle did not "stack up as an economical piece of kit".

The machines are being used by Nottinghamshire and Lincolnshire county councils to fix roads, but highways officials in Leicestershire decided against acquiring the machines following two one-day demonstrations.

JCB said short demonstrations were not enough for the Pothole Pro to prove its worth and urged the council to rethink.

The council told the BBC it had no plans for a further trial but would discuss equipment with the firm "in the near future".

The authority said it already had numerous other JCB machines in its fleet.

"No trial [of the Pothole Pro] is currently planned," a council spokesperson said.

"However, we will be meeting with JCB in the near future to further discuss how we manage maintenance and the most efficient equipment for our operations."

A Leicestershire County Council assessment of the Pothole Pro, released after a Freedom of Information request, said it arranged a one-day trial of the Pothole Pro in January 2025, having previously seen a demonstration in 2021.

"After two demonstrations, officers concluded that the JCB Pothole Pro did not stack up as an economical piece of kit to repair potholes in Leicestershire," a report said.

It said the large size of the machine made it unsuitable to repair category one and two higher defects that needed quick responses and where speed and minimal disruption were key.

The council concluded the size of the machine meant road closures, with significant traffic management measures or lengthy legal processes to get closure orders, would be needed.

The council also judged the quantity of work was not adequate to "utilise Pothole Pro's full potential on a daily basis - which in turn would make it very inefficient".

It added: "The JCB PP is big - it's bigger than a normal excavator, it would not be suitable for small defect repairs - the machine is too big and would close the road, it would be inefficient to travel round repairing small potholes."

The council subsequently told the BBC: "The current machinery we use and how we operate does the job for us given the size and nature of our road network and we are confident of how effective it is.

"However, we're always open to exploring any new possibilities that may make our work even more efficient."

A spokesperson for JCB said: "The JCB Pothole Pro has proven its worth in other council areas where it has been evaluated more fully, such as Stoke-on-Trent City Council, which has repaired seven years' worth of potholes in 12 months, a statistic that unequivocally underlines the machine's efficiency.

"We hope Leicestershire County Council - in light of the recent surge in potholes across the county - will now think differently and undertake a proper, long-term trial and evaluation of the Pothole Pro across its road network.

"Motorists, cyclists and pedestrians in Leicestershire deserve nothing less."

Nottinghamshire County Council's Reform leader Mick Barton said Pothole Pros were the "best bet on the market" while unveiling two of the new machines in May.

Lincolnshire County Council conducted a nine-week pilot of the Pothole Pro in 2021, before turning it down because engineers "found better tools".

However, its current Reform leader Sean Matthews authorised another trial in 2025 and, in April, the council confirmed the equipment would be maintained, having "demonstrated clear benefits in efficiency, safety and service across the county's road network".

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