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Thetford driveway and part of garden disappears down sinkhole
A sinkhole has opened up in Earls Street, Thetford. - Credit: Archant
Part of a Thetford garden, including boundary walls and a large gate, is lying in a huge sinkhole today which opened in Thetford on Thursday evening.
What Earls Street in Thetford looks like normally. Picture: Google Street View - Credit: Archant
Police and fire crews were called to Earls Street just after 6.30pm last night to reports a sinkhole had opened up at the end of a row of houses.
It caused two walls to collapse and a double garden gate has been taken down by the hole.
The hole is around 15ft by 10ft and around 8ft deep and took down a fence gate, part of a wall and some paving as it opened.
Fiona Rhind, in whose garden the sinkhole appeared, said she was at home with her partner watching television at around 6pm last night when they heard 'a big rumble'.
A sinkhole has opened up in Earls Street, Thetford. - Credit: Archant
'We assumed it had come from a car accident or something, and we came outside and found that the driveway had collapsed,' she said.
'We were told as a precaution that we should not sleep here overnight, so we went to a hotel.'
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She added: 'We were just worried about how big it could get.'
The fire crew from Watton made the area safe and stayed on the scene until around 10pm.
One lane of Earls Street is currently closed at the junction with Norwich Road.
A spokesperson for Norfolk County Council said an engineer is on site assessing the hole and a representative from Anglian Water will also be attending, to determine whether it was caused by a problem with the sewer.
