An enormous sinkhole has opened up in a street in Greater Manchester, swallowing several wheelie bins and becoming an instant local attraction.
A sewer running under Heywood Road in Prestwich collapsed on Monday after heavy rain, creating a crater at least 6 metres (20ft) wide. Residents closed access to their own road using wheelie bins, some of which ended up falling victim to the hungry abyss.
Heywood Rd has collapsed! 😱 Thankfully no one was hurt, but avoid the area! pic.twitter.com/oSAXfUb4me
— So Prestwich (@So_Prestwich) July 17, 2023
Engineers from United Utilities were on site on Monday evening trying to figure out what had happened – and how they could fix it. They were watched by sinkhole tourists and curious locals, who reported live on Facebook and bantered with the workers.
Heywood Road had previously suffered a sinkhole in 2016, which took a notoriously long time to fix. Alan Quinn, the cabinet member for the environment, climate change and operations on Bury council, told the Bolton News: “Council engineers were on it straight away. Barriers are up.
“The only problem is Prestwich is built on sand, so if there is a leak the water can wash the sand away and lead to collapse.”
One resident told the Bolton News: “This has happened quite a few times, further up.
“Neighbours are sick and fed up with it. Even though it’s a residential area, this is like a main road. Cars drive too fast and the council are doing nothing to slow traffic down.”
They added: “I heard when this started going because I could hear the undersides of cars being hit. I phoned Bury council and the police and put some bins around it. It was when I went back to take a picture that I saw the bins sinking.”
A spokesperson for Bury council said: “We believe this is a collapsed sewer, and United Utilities will be dealing with that.
“The road has been blocked off and diversions put in place via Heys Road and Bury Old Road and vice versa. The duration required for the closure is unknown at the moment.”
A United Utilities spokesperson said: “A sinkhole has been reported to us on Heywood Road in Prestwich and our engineers are on site to investigate.”
