With potholes a constant problem on Wiltshire’s roads highways supremo John Thomson could be forgiven for hoping motorists might not notice the full extent of the problem.

But the opposite is true and Coun Thomson is urging everyone to report every hole they spot.

He does not leave home without his iPad so he can snap a picture of any potholes he sees on the county’s road and he is urging others to do the same.

Coun Thomson, cabinet member for highways, said: “I am forever taking pictures of potholes on the MyWiltshire app so the problem is immediately logged.

“I know people in Wiltshire are upset about potholes and I will not be satisfied until people in the county are happy with the state of the roads.”

He realises that not everyone is as equipped as he is with the latest Apple devices and it might not always be safe to stop and take a picture of a pothole.

He said: “Of course not everyone has an iPhone or iPad but if that is the case they can ring the council and a member of staff will log it on the system.

“We want everyone to be involved with this, regardless of whether or not they are confident with the latest technology.”

The app came in for criticism at a Chippenham Area Board meeting in January and Philip Whitehead the highways contract portfolio holder apologised for some of its shortcomings.

But this week Coun Whitehead and Coun Thomson assured the public that the app did work well for logging problems. It passes on the exact location of the hole via GPS tracking to the highways repair team but did not always notify the user that the complaint had been accepted.

Coun Thomson said: “The app is a much better system compared with disappearing into the black hole of CLARENCE.”

Reassurance also came from highways officer Adrian Hampton who said these days the public, Wiltshire Council and its highways contractors Balfour Beatty could all be linked via new technology and priority potholes on main roads would be repaired within 24 hours.

Download the MyWiltshire app for free – go to tinyurl.com/omtf2ow or call 0300 456 0105. CLARENCE can still be contacted on 0800 232323 or via email on clarence@wiltshire.gov.uk