CHIPPENHAM NEWS: A CHEWING gum busting machine that cost taxpayers £12,000 has blown up after less than a month's use.

The machine, which sat unused in a warehouse for 18 months because of a lack of funds, churned up the road it was supposed to clean before disappearing in a cloud of black smoke before stunned onlookers in Chippenham High Street.

Doug Sprague, manager of Millets, in the High Street, witnessed the attempt to clear the street of gum.

He said: "They started at the top of the High Street and got down to about The Oven Door opposite our shop.

"I thought I'd amble across and then I saw the craters in the road. Then the machine blew up. Black smoke started flying out of it. It was also spraying water and steam all over people sat having coffees and they all left."

The machine, brought in by North Wiltshire District Council to tackle the sticky problem of chewing gum littering the town, has suffered a catalogue of problems.

First it was stuck in a council depot for a year-and-a-half because there was not enough money to run it. When it was eventually used, it started pulling up bits of the road and pavement it was supposed to clear of gum.

Cllr Philip Allnat said: "This past month they had some problems it was tending to lift the Tarmacadum up as well as the chewing gum and then it stopped working."

When Mr Sprague spotted the machine spewing out black smoke he phoned Chippenham Town Council and Ray Lane, head of service delivery, immediately called for it to be switched off.

"If it had carried on they would have ruined the whole road," Mr Sprague said.

"They took it away and we haven't seen it since."

The machine has also caused patchy white marks to appear on the pavements.

"To be honest I think that's as bad as the chewing gum if not worse," said Mr Sprague.

A team of gum busters were specially trained to use the machine but the district council's lead member for waste, Cllr Sylvia Doubell, said it could have got into the wrong hands when they worked in partnership with the town councils.

"I think there might be a problem with training and making sure the right people are operating it," she said.

She sticks by her view that the machine was worth the money, although she was unable to confirm whether it is still being used.

"I think if it gets the chewing gum off it's got to be a good investment," she said.

"The High Street is a mess. But what we really need to be doing is educating people to stop spitting their gum on the pavement in the first place. They are the real culprits."