Express & Star

Dudley mine collapse causes road closure

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Workers re-surfacing a road received a shock after a hole opened up in the carriageway following the collapse of a mine working.

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Residents in Bull Street, Lower Gornal, said they had seen one of the machines become stuck in the opening following the collapse on Sunday.

The road had already been sealed off to traffic for the roadworks and the closure remained for repairs to take place.

Workers in Bull Street, Gornal, filling a mine shaft which opened up overnight forcing the closure of the road

Workers were on site early this morning to fill up the hole, which was between 6ft to 9ft deep with a diameter of more than 2ft.

The section of road is due to be resurfaced tonight and re-opened to traffic at 6am tomorrow.

Dudley Council confirmed the hole had been caused by the collapse of a small area of mine working.

Resident Gillian Brown, who lives opposite the section of road which collapsed, said people living along the road had been left shocked by what happened.

"Roadworks have been taking place along the road for the past four weeks, mainly at weekends," she said.

"Yesterday we noticed one of the machines, I think it is one used to smooth out the road surface, suddenly come to a stop.

"The workers all came around and seemed confused about what had happened at first.

"From what I understand part of the machine had got stuck down the hole."

She praised the council for its actions in getting the hole repaired so quickly.

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"I have to say the council has been very good and came around to the houses to answer any questions and ease our fears a little," she said.

"You do tend to worry when something like this happens that part of your living room is going to disappear down a hole.

"To be honest I don't think any of the residents around here knew there were any mine workings.

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"We have lived here for 25 years and it has never been mentioned."

Dudley Council spokesman Julie Warrilow confirmed a small area of mine working had collapsed beneath the road.

"The work to fill in the hole has gone well and we were expecting the road to re-open by tomorrow morning," she said.

She said there was no record of a machine getting stuck when the section of carriageway collapsed.