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KIWI Richard
Jackson is hoping a New Zealand-designed road repair machine will catch on in
the UK as it has in other countries. The Jetpatcher® machine can be used for
several different types of road damage and needs only a crew of two to operate
it. It can mend an average-size pothole in less than two minutes and have it
ready to be driven over straight away.
In comparison, traditional methods require up to three trucks and takes a crew
of up to five workers two to three hours to fix one pothole.
The Jetpatcher® Road Repair Machine was designed in 1988 by
Aucklander Jim Turnbull and the Jetpatcher® Corporation was formed
the following year to commercialise the design.
There are now almost 200 machines being used by local authorities and
contractors throughout the world, including Australasia, the Pacific, the far
East, India, South Africa, Taiwan, West and Eastern Europe, and the United
States.
Based in Sunderland, Jetpatcher® UK Limited was incorporated around
10 months
ago. Jackson, who is from
Invercargill, became general manager last Christmas after working for the
company in Australia for six years. He's confident that the machines will do
well in the UK market.
"They'll certainly catch on here, it's just a question of time." Jackson
says the technique is quick and efficient, meaning staff aren't exposed to
dangerous traffic flows for long periods. "It replaces shovels and jack hammers
with a push-button process," he explains. "It's like dentistry on a major
scale."
He has been demonstrating the machine around the country and training city and
regional councils to use the machines. "A lot of the authorities would like to
start using the machine tomorrow," Jackson says. "But there's a lot of red
tape and bureaucracy that they have to try to get through first."
However, some Jetpatchers have already been hired by councils in southern
England, Northern Ireland, and Scotland. Jackson has also sold three units to
private contractors and says several others are interested. Jetpatcher®
UK Limited is now awaiting the results of laboratory test and trials the get the
industry stamp of approval for its machine.
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