A business that invented a revolutionary road surface and won the backing of Sir Richard Branson is looking to move quickly into international markets.

Macrebur took the top prize in the startup category at the Virgin Media Voom contest last week after founder Toby McCartney pitched to a panel of experts including Sir Richard.

The company makes an asphalt called Plasmac, which is made from waste plastic rather than bitumen.

It won £250,000 to spend on marketing, £150,000 to spend on social media and crowdfunding as well as other prizes bringing the total amount received to just under £1m.

Macrebur beat more than 6,000 other companies to take the top prize.

Mr McCartney, 38, is a former pupil of Lime House School, at Dalston, who lives at Eaglesfield in Dumfries and Galloway.

He runs the business with friends Nick Burnett, 39, and Gordon Reid, 37, who also live in the Eaglesfield area. The firm has just taken on a member of staff to handle administration, who will be based at an office at Kingstown, Carlisle. It is hoped the company will be able to create between five and 10 jobs.

Mr McCartney said: "I am still on a high. We have had so much media coverage and press coverage and I have even had a phone call from Australia - they want us to go to the Great Ocean Road."

He came up with idea for Plasmac while in India, where he saw pickers at landfill sites removing waste plastic and other objects.

He claims that road surfaces made with Plasmac - which will be produced by regular asphalt manufacturers - last 60 per cent longer than those laid with conventional asphalt.

"We have a lot of backup private work to do and we are working our way up to that," he said.

"We are going through the procurement with Cumbria County Council and Dumfries and Galloway Council. Hopefully they will be the first local authorities that take our mixture."

The first road in the Carlisle area to be laid with Plasmac is at Kirklinton Hall, near Longtown. This should be completed within a month.

Mr McCartney is "hugely concerned" by the implications of the EU referendum result.

He said: "At the moment we can approach EU members' councils in the same way we approach ones here but, after we leave the EU, we will not be able to do that."

The company is planning to target local authorities in France and Germany, where there are pot hole problems, as soon as possible.

Mr McCartney added that Plasmac is better in extreme temperature than regular asphalt, meaning it may find a market in northern Europe.

He also believes this is the reason behind interest from Australia.

As part of the prize, a Virgin Pendolino train on the London-Glasgow route will be wrapped in a Macrebur design featuring all three founders in cartoon form.

"I go on that train a lot and it will be strange seeing my fat face on it when it pulls into Carlisle station," Mr McCartney joked.

He has also visited Sir Richard's home in Oxfordshire and been introduced to contacts by the Virgin founder, including Stagecoach chairman Sir Brian Souter.