‘He saw the ground collapsing’: Part of Balfour Road closed as ‘deep’ sinkhole appears in Northampton street

A busy road in Northampton remains closed today (Tuesday) after a large sinkhole appeared.

It is understood to the sinkhole appeared moments after a van drove over that section of the road around 2pm yesterday (Monday).

A Northampton resident who lives opposite the hole said he saw the van driving down the street.

David Phillips said: “All of a sudden, I heard people shouting loudly. The van driver was standing around, not knowing what to do. Then the police turned up. And so we were all just standing there, looking at it.

“He saw the ground collapsing. He actually saw it collapsing, so he swerved to the left and the right and ended up across the road.”

Police say they were called just before 2.10pm. They attended and left the incident in the care of the Street Doctor.

“It's approximately two metres deep, about six feet,” said Mr Phillips.

The police officers closed a part of the road to traffic shortly after the road collapsed, according to Mr Phillips.

“I was pleased that the police were here because they controlled the situation,” he said.

A West Northamptonshire Council spokesperson said: “Our Highways service attended the site in an emergency response capacity to make the area safe and Anglian Water are now investigating.”

An Anglian Water spokesperson said: “Our teams are investigating a sinkhole on Balfour Road in Kingsthorpe, at the junction with Brockton Street. In order to keep our people and other road users safe while we work, we’ve closed Balfour Road, with a fully signposted diversion in place. We’d like to thank everyone in Kingsthorpe for their patience while we get things back to normal.”