Greenwich sinkhole: Car swallowed up by road in south-east London

Hatty Collier12 May 2016

This was the dramatic scene after a huge sinkhole swallowed up a car overnight in a busy south-east London street.

A dark blue estate car was pulled into the hole next to a church in Greenwich in the early hours of this morning, police said.

Emergency services said they were called to Woodland Terrace at around 3.25am by members of the public.

Greenwich police officers tweeted the picture of the swallowed-up car with the caption: “This is the incident we are currently dealing with in Woodland Terrace SE7.

Sink hole swallows car

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The seven-seater Vauxhall Zafira was left on the road by Ghazi Hassan, who was visiting his brother on Wednesday night.

Mr Ghazi's brother, Abdul Ahmadzai, said: "He left it here last night after he came round with his wife. He's on his way here now."

Mr Ahmadzai added: "I woke up very surprised. The police were here about 4am so I came outside and saw the car - they said it was in a hole. I thought 'There's nothing I can do' and went back to sleep."

Asked if his brother, who has owned the car for three of four years, was angry or upset, Mr Ahmadzai said: "No, he knows there's nothing he can do. He just wanted to know if there was any damage, I'm sending him a photo now."

A police cordon in Woodland Terrace
Helen Jakeways

Cleo O'Kane, 25, who lives opposite where the sinkhole opened up, said police told her some residents might have to be evacuated.

She said: "I thought it was thunder - I heard a loud bang, but it was raining so much I thought it was thunder.

"It must have been around 4am. I woke up and then just went back to sleep - my window was open - then woke up at six this morning, came outside and there was a car in a hole."

She added: "Police said they don't know what's going on. They might have to evacuate all the houses.

"All the car is resting on apparently is a pipe, otherwise it would have disappeared."

Police are assisting with street closures in the area while the local authority tries to deal with the situation.

A Met Police spokesman said nobody has been injured when the sinkhole opened up.

He added: "Officers are on the scene and there is a cordon in place. The local authority has been called and there are other agencies on scene."

A Royal Borough of Greenwich spokesman said the council was working with emergency services to secure the area.

He added: "We are urgently investigating the matter and will update residents the moment we have more information."

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