A COUNCIL is taking unusual action to reduce the problem of holes in the road.

Middlesbrough Council, with Camden in north London, was the first local authority in the UK to pilot a rental initiative, which began nearly two years ago.

The scheme aims to cut traffic congestion and speed up roadworks by allowing the council to charge utility companies £300 a day for work on bus routes and £50 on other roads.

Middlesbrough has now become the first council in the area to test radar equipment that can detect underground plastic and metal pipes and fibre optic cables.

Developed by a Swedish company, the trolley-mounted radar locates buried pipes and cables, hopefully reducing the need for digging holes in the road.

Brian Glover, the council's head of transport and design serves, said: "This sort of technology is very welcome. It will make our job easier keeping the roads and pavements open.

"It will mean utilities can get on with their job more efficiently. That way everyone wins.''

Peter Bevils is the managing director of Oldham company LTU, which is importing the Easylocator.

He said: "Interest in the British market for this technology is growing all the time.

"Easylocator is very cost effective at less than £10,000 for the complete package.

"It doesn't need specialist technicians to operate it and provides real time live utility detection.''

The pipe spotting radar is being shown to utility companies during an open day in Middlesbrough, today.