'It's very lucky no one was seriously hurt': Fears as another sinkhole opens up on residential road

Residents have expressed their shock after a huge pothole appeared on a street in Prestwich - swallowing their bins as the ground opened beneath them.

The sinkhole opened up on Heywood Road, opposite the junction with Gilmore Drive, in Prestwich late on Monday (July 17) morning. A full road closure which was place which has been scaled back as United Utilities and council workers carry out work on the sinkhole.

Three wheelie bins, which were quickly put into the road by alert neighbours to warn oncoming cars of the imminent sinkhole, have been left submerged after they fell into the hole after it opened up. Residents say it is the third major sinkhole to open up on the road in the last decade or so, with concerns it will keep happening if major work isn't done.

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The man whose bins were in the sinkhole told the Manchester Evening News: "We were out at the time but our neighbours used our bins and others to stop people from travelling along the road as the road started to crack and open up. It took ages for anyone to turn up, we first called the police who didn't attend, so neighbours got together to close the road ourselves to block the road off.

"Our bins fell in as the road opened up but luckily it wasn't worse than that, it could have easily been someone's car. When we first contacted the council they told us we would have to pay to replace the bins but which feels ridiculous as it's fallen into a sinkhole on their road!" Bury Council confirmed to the MEN that their bins would be replaced free of charge.

The resident added that the latest big sinkhole has amplified the concerns of neighbours about the condition of the