Doncaster road cordoned off by police after huge sink hole opens up in street

Drivers are being told to keep away from Hillcrest Road in Wheatley Hills after a 12 inch hole opened up in the middle of the road, near the junction with The Grove, earlier today.

Motorist Stuart Green said he was just about to drive down the street when a resident warned him of the impending danger.

He said: “A resident stopped me from driving over it - police have blocked the road off now.

“I was about to drive over it when the guy who lives on the corner house stopped me.

“You could see the road dipping in quite a big area then a hole about 12 inch or so.”

Sink holes are formed when the surface layer of earth collapses into the ground below and they can vary in size from a few centimetres to thousands of feet across. Some have been known to swallow homes and cars in sudden collapses.

Torrential rain across Doncaster yesterday is understood to have caused a number of problems on the area’s roads, with smaller sink holes reportedly opening up in other parts of the borough.

The road, which links Thorne Road with Armthorpe Road via the Wheatley Hills Grove estate, is a quiet and leafy, tree-lined residential street near to Grove Gardens public park and also Wheatley Hills Tennis Club.

We have contacted South Yorkshire Police for further details about the incident.