The big yellow Gum Guzzler has arrived in town to deal with Ealing's stickiest dilemma ,, the globs of discarded gum disfiguring the streets.

At a cost of more than £7,000 ,, the council won't say exactly how much ,, the guzzler or super saturated steam cleaner, to give it its proper title, will be clearing the streets of the sticky menace.

It blasts each glob with high pressure water at 3,000lbs per square inch heated to 180 degrees.

A council spokeswoman said: 'Other machine work by chipping the gum off the street but that leaves ugly white marks.

'With this machine the paving slabs are cleaned as the gum is removed.'

The machine is on an eight-week trial around Ealing Broadway and ,, if it cleans quickly enough ,, on to West Ealing. It will be operating early in the morning to stay out of shoppers' way.

If it works well enough it may become a full-time members of the borough's street cleaning armoury.