Work begins to fill Albrighton's giant pothole

This picture shows the huge hole which opened up in a Shropshire road after water pipes burst - as workers prepared to start repairing it today.

The 7ft hole opened suddenly on Monday in Boningale, Albrighton, causing a two-tonne truck to plunge into the gap. Severn Trent Water confirmed today the road would remain closed until at least Wednesday and possibly longer.

It said repair work on the A464, at the junction of Holyhead Road and Patshull Lane, would start today, five days after it first appeared.

The burst water mains left up to 2,000 customers without water till Tuesday afternoon.

Severn Trent spokeswoman Rachel Blackman said the company was sorry for any inconvenience the repairs were causing for motorists or customers.

She said: "After the road collapsed the burst pipes had to be dealt with initially so water could be restored to affected homes. We then had to go through a commissioning process to find a contractor who would be willing to take on the huge amount of road repairs that need to be done.

"We will get under way with the repairs today and we expect the work to be completed on Wednesday at the earliest.

"Until then we expect the road to remain closed because of the nature of the repairs."

Two brothers had an amazing escape when the hole suddenly appeared in front of their pick-up truck.

Carl and Chris Nedic leapt from their new £24,000 truck just seconds before the road surface dramatically collapsed, pitching the vehicle nose-first into the ground.

Chris, aged 23, who works with his 25-year-old brother in the family mobile homes business, said the pair were lucky to be alive.

He escaped with cuts and bruises but Carl suffered back and leg injuries.

By Peter Finch