An owner of a Vauxhall Zafira woke up to a nasty surprise as he found that the people carrier had almost been swallowed up by sinkhole that had formed in the road. Ghazi Hassan parked the car on Woodland Terrace in Charlton when he went to visit his brother and the sinkhole formed overnight.
Despite the size of the hole the car thankfully did not fall in as it was resting on a pipe, saving it from falling into the abyss. It was parked near a church so maybe this was divine intervention? Or maybe a hole-y miracle? The cause of the sinkhole is thought to be the heavy rain we had earlier in the week. The police discovered the car at 03:20 and has since been lifted out using a crane.
Mr Hassan said: "In life you have good days and bad days. This morning wasn't a good day. But I'm thankful me or my family wasn't in the car.
"I've told the insurance. They are coming to pick it up and repair it so that's the positive side, and that no-one was injured.
The local council said that the sinkhole was "stable" but obviously closed the road regardless for health and safety reasons. A spokesperson from the council stated: "It has been confirmed the car is not resting on a gas main and can safely be removed. Once the car has been removed this will facilitate the investigations into the causes of the incident.
"The geology in the area is sand/gravel and there is nothing to indicate that the collapse is related to old mine workings."