Car trapped as deep sinkhole outside Greggs forces closure of Witham high street

A high street has been closed after a large sinkhole opened up in the street outside a Greggs.

Pictures taken in Witham, Essex, show a car with its front wheel firmly stuck in the large hole and a crowd standing around watching.

The incident happened in Newland Street just before 7pm on a busy summer Saturday evening.

Nicole Porter, 21, who works in the Greggs, said she and her manager were just closing up when the incident happened.

She said: "I believe over the course of the day a crack started to appear but it wasn’t big enough to notice and then when these people were driving over, that’s when the hole opened up.

"I believe a local tow man pulled them out last night after an hour or so and they luckily didn’t have damage to their car."

Ms Porter added: "It was very lucky there was no damage to the car, definitely."

People commenting on the Witham Talk Facebook page said the hole looked several feet deep.

The road has been closed to traffic while the sinkhole is investigated.

Local MP Priti Patel tweeted that she had been in touch with Essex County Council asking them to fix the hole as soon as possible.

She said: "I've asked Essex County Council to investigate the cause, check for safety of road, and repair and reopen as quickly as possible. "Thankfully no one was injured but this raises serious concerns about public safety on our roads."

The incident prompted a number of pithy remarks on the Witham Talk page.

One person commented: "Don't worry folks, they’ll be out next week to spray around it and it should be fixed by January."

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