VIDEO: How long does it take to fill a pothole?

Thursday was National Pothole Day and the condition of our roads has led this newspaper to launch a campaign to call for greater investment from central Government.

West Sussex County Council is responsible for the majority of roads across the county, apart from those maintained by Highways England, such as the A27, A23 and M23.

Since 2011 Balfour Beatty has held the county council’s highways maintenance contract.

On Friday our reporter was invited along to see one highways crew in action as it filled a pothole in Penn Crescent, Haywards Heath.

In our video we hope to give readers an insight into how highways operatives fix potholes as and when they spring up on our roads.

From start to finish the whole process only took around ten minutes.

First the crew cut away the damaged road surface, hot Tarmac was then applied evenly to the area, and then a wacker plate was used to compact the material. Water was then applied to help cool down the surface.

Alongside their work repairing the roads a number of highways operatives, including the ones we met, drive the gritters to distribute salt during cold weather spells and can be on-call for emergency out of hours incidents, such as responding to fallen trees or helping to clear up the roads after a collision between vehicles.

To report a pothole in your area, visit the Love West Sussex page