“It’s lucky no-one got injured”
12:58, 17 Aug 2025Updated 12:58, 17 Aug 2025
A sinkhole has opened up on Taunton Road, Ashton(Image: Manchester Evening News )
Part of a Tameside road has been closed off after a sinkhole opened up.
A section of Taunton Road, in Ashton-under-Lyne, has been shut since Saturday evening (August 16) between Oldham Road and Buttermere Road.
Images from the scene show the hole in the middle of one side of the road, surrounded by orange safety barriers.
The other side of the road has been blocked off with traffic cones, after initial inspections took place on Saturday night.
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Graphic designer Arvind Mistry, 61, first noticed the issue on Saturday night when he saw it ‘all blocked up’ as he returned home.
“It’s lucky no-one got injured,” he said. “I assume the weather’s got something to do with it, it could be that the tarmac’s expanded and made a crack.”
Taunton Road has been closed(Image: Manchester Evening News )
Barry Germain, 86, said the emergence of the sinkhole came as a shock – while a neighbour tried to help as chaotic scenes first unfolded.
“I thought there was a crash or something,” he said. “A sinkhole? You don’t expect that.
“Our neighbour was stopping all the traffic, I thought what’s he doing in the road directing traffic?”
Neighbours told the Manchester Evening News that a number of workers were seen looking into the sinkhole on Saturday – with police and Tameside council staff seen in the evening.
Workers placed barriers around the sinkhole in Ashton(Image: Manchester Evening News )
Betty Pollard, 78, said: “I went to shut my curtains and saw flashing lights through the bedroom window.
“It was between 8.30pm and 9pm I think. There was a police van across the road and young people sat ok the wall.
“All I could see was this black thing. There was a council van and this bloke putting all these things out.”
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Tracey Germain, 60, added: “I just saw the man putting up the fences last night. I did notice a police car go past.”
It’s understood Greater Manchester Police officers attended to assist Tameside council with the road closure.
Tameside council has been approached for comment.