The South Wales Evening Post has triggered relief and celebration in Swansea by embarrassing the local council into a promise to finally repair 20,000 treacherous potholes.

The Evening Post’s Get it Sorted campaign was launched in July 2001 to address the city’s pothole plague.

Now the council has vowed to bring in a new hi-tech repair machine to get the job done quickly after hundreds of readers swamped a telephone hotline set up by the Post to call for action.

West Cross resident Hilary Davis of the Paddock, which was potholed for more than eight years, said: “It wasn’t just potholes, the whole road surface was in a state. I hope the new machine helps, especially with disruption to traffic, as I think this is a problem general to roads all over Swansea.”

Each hole will be dealt with in less than 15 minutes – meaning no traffic jams or lengthy road works. It will also allow cars to drive over the repairs immediately.