Car 'sucked' into sinkhole caused by burst pipe

A driver has told how a sinkhole created by a burst water pipe "sucked the car across the road". Sally Hall said she was attempting to drive through an overflowing drain in Epperstone, Nottinghamshire, at about 6:45am on Sunday.





She said she was "frightened" when the water came "flooding in over my knees" and had to climb to safety. Mrs Hall said: "It was quite dark and there was a puddle of water. I thought it was a drain overflowing so went to drive through it. Then all of a sudden the car was sucked across the road and I ended up in the hole in the road. "





"The water came flooding in over my knees and eventually the water was above the dashboard. It was fairly hard to escape ... the car kept locking and unlocking itself so I had to get out of the passenger side which was difficult." Gerald Douglas, who lives opposite the sinkhole, said: "It sounded like an explosion at the time and thought it must be a distant one.


YouTube link.

"I came out and the lane was in floods ... It was quite a surprise on a Sunday morning." Mr Douglas said the "flow of water was extreme" and drifted to about 20m away from the car. Severn Trent Water said the sinkhole in the road was an "extreme example" of what happens when a large pipe bursts.