Road users in the Sutherland area of the Highlands are being encouraged to make use of a new online service to report potholes.

Six of the Council's Roads and Transport teams within Community Services are piloting mobile technology  - called 'TotalMobile' - which allows for more efficient route planning, job scheduling and customer updates.

By using www.highland.gov.uk/roadfaults or by phoning the Council's Service Centre on 01349 886601, Area Roads Operation Manager Graham Mackenzie said once reported the pothole request is sent directly to the Sutherland mobile teams.


"There's a clever algorithm in play (TotalMobile) that receives requests in real time and carries out planning activity automatically and distributes to the teams' diaries," he said.

"It sorts the jobs by date logged and area and sifts through requests to provide the most effective routes. Staff are then directed to the pothole using standard smartphones recording their visit while carrying out the work."

Cllr Allan Henderson welcomed the new pilot and said: "The Sutherland TotalMobile pilot will run for 3 months and dependant on feedback the Council will have the potential to be rolled out to other Highland Council areas.

"This is a very welcome new initiative as what's important to The Highland Council is to provide our customers with an update on the potholes they report. That's why there is an inbuilt automated email facility to update customers and tell them as soon as the pothole reported has been repaired. I look forward to hearing the results of the pilot."

(LM/MH)