People in Worksop say the moment a car drove into a large sinkhole in the town must have been "terrifying" for the driver and passengers. CCTV footage shows that a black Skoda drove into a small hole on Carlton Road, near Worksop's train station, at around 7.45am on Saturday (May 6).
The footage shows the hole started off small but as multiple cars drove over it, it became gradually larger and by Saturday evening, the hole reached close to the pavement from the centre of the road. It's believed that nobody was seriously injured and Nottinghamshire Police has been contacted for more information.
The car remained on the scene on Saturday afternoon, with a recovery operation expected to start this evening. A small section of Carlton Road has been closed off and Nottinghamshire Police officers are at the scene.
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People passing by were all shocked to see the size of the hole, with one man claiming he had heard it was 12 feet deep. Tom Oxley, 78, who lives in nearby Carlton but grew up in the area, said: "My son-in-law in Lincoln heard about it this morning so we've come to have a look.
"I've been talking to the people on the scene and they've said the hole is 12 feet deep. I use this road regularly myself to go the gym, but with the hole now you can actually see the thickness of the road and it doesn't look very thick, especially when you consider some of the bigger vehicles that will be going over this."
Jo Appleby, 45, who lives in Worksop, said: "It must have been terrifying for the people in the car to realise that there was this huge hole right underneath them. I feel really sorry for them as well because this car is probably their pride and joy.
"I do think the roads are in a bad state at the moment and they've been getting worse over the past few months. I know that there has been some bad weather so that may not have helped."
Several people said sinkholes had appeared several times in Worksop over the years. Most recently, a hole opened up in the Matalan car park last August after heavy flooding in Worksop.
Councillor Glynn Gilfoyle, the Labour county councillor for the area, said: "My issue is that this is a recurrent problem and we need to get to the bottom of it. I would say this is the third time in about three years that it's happened and so there needs to be some serious thought going forward.
"Fortunately, nobody was seriously injured, but this could have been a lot worse. I will definitely be asking questions because this will need some major work."
Councillor Gilfoyle said he understood Severn Trent were taking over the site and that damage had been detected in the foul system, with a CCTV team expected to go out on Sunday to assess any damage to pipes. One man, who did not want to be named, said his daughter had fallen victim to a sinkhole in the "exact same spot" three years ago.
He said: "I saw this and I said that this is the exact same spot where my daughter's BMW went in. It totally knackered her wheel up and she had to pay £500 for a new one."
Alex Dima, 29, who lives in Worksop and works as a taxi driver, said: "I can't believe it because I was driving on this road at around 11 last night and everything was completely fine. I'm always using this road when I'm working, so I was lucky not to be on it at the time."
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