FIVE thousand Devon potholes have been fixed in just six months using a device known as a ‘dragon patcher’.

The machines, which emits flames, are being used across the county’s vast road network to tackle the huge number of damaged surfaces.

Since April, more than 33,000 square metres of material have been laid to fix potholes and road damage across 5,250 patches.

The success of the dragon patchers appears to be because the heat of their flames helps the repair material bond effectively to the existing road surface.

Cllr Jerry Brook (Conservative, Chudleigh and Teign Valley) told the county council’s corporate infrastructure and regulatory services scrutiny committee he had been ‘criss-crossing’ Devon recently and had seen a clear improvements on the roads.

He said: ‘There has been an enormous amount of work and therefore improvement to our network in quite a short space of time.

‘Some places are diabolical still and they may never get done, but I want to say congratulations to the team as there has been quite considerable improvement.’

The committee’s chair, Frank Letch (Liberal Democrat, Crediton), added: ‘I would reiterate that in my area too.’

In the first four months of this financial year, more than 24,000 potholes were recorded – a 54 per cent increase on the same period last year.

The council’s highways department was helped by an extra £12 million in funding.

More than £7 million of this has been put towards capital funding, which has allowed the council to double the number of patching teams from two to four.