3 week pothole course

Blackburn,England -- The spiritual home of potholes, immortalized by the Beatles song , has been chosen for a pioneering new 3 week course in Highway Maintenance and Inspection. After all, the town's reputation for rutty roads is global: Condoleezza Rice, the US secretary of state, professed she had always been intrigued by the lyrics before she visited Lancashire earlier this year.

So have others, if the number of people interested in the course is anything to go by. "The response has been fantastic," says Ian Bowden of Blackburn College, which is running the course in partnership with engineering firm Capita Symonds.

Thanks to incessant digging by telecom and utility companies, ever- heavier traffic and a road maintenance backlog from underfunding in the 70s and 80s, the demand for highway inspectors - the "eyes and ears" of highway authorities, according to course leader Michael White - is higher than ever in the UK.

But at the same time, many modern- day inspectors don't have the qualifications of their forebears. The three-week course, therefore, will teach types of road construction and methods of repair, as well as inspection regimes and highway law.

"We are now living in a climate of compensation culture, no-win no-fee litigation and the legal aspects of the job are becoming more and more important," says White.

Lancashire's only female highways inspector, Ruth Smith, 26 (who - coincidentally or otherwise - hails from Blackburn), agrees. "It's not just about crumbling roads and potholes. When you are asked to give an expert testimony in court it is all about being more knowledgeable and understanding the subject and therefore feeling more confident in your own abilities. We are often in the frontline."

Key coursework includes the study of chunks of asphalt from famous Lancashire routes such as the M6 and the A66 and field trips along one of Blackburn's notorious streets where students are required to point out all the defects and potential hazards.

The ultimate test for any inspector, however, remains the same after all these years: how many holes does it take to fill the Albert Hall? "I haven't a clue," says White. "How can holes fill something?"