A busy city-centre Aberdeen road which closed after a sinkhole caused it to collapse was ripped up by a digger yesterday as an operation was launched to make it safe.
A gaping hole emerged in the tarmac of Chapel Street on Thursday night, forcing police to divert traffic away from the busy route near Union Street.
The road was reopened last night, after the council’s roads department worked through the day to repair the problem.
A section of the road had caved in, with a surface hole about 2ft deep and a larger 6ft deep crater underneath.
At the scene yesterday, a JCB digger was used to tear up more of the road surface as part of the remedial work.
Police were made aware of the problem after a taxi driver noticed it when pulling up at the Chapel Street rank.
Aberdeen City Council closed Chapel Street between Thistle Street and Union Street, with gas pipes visible beneath the road surface.
Barriers were put in place to keep people away from the crater and the closure caused disruption to businesses on the street.
Apdul Malik, owner of Bodrum Kebab House, said he was forced to send his two delivery drivers home because they could not gain access to the street.
Neil Cooney, the convener of the council’s communities, housing and infrastructure committee, believed the sinkhole had been caused by underground water.
He said: “The important thing is to get the road back in working condition and we have bent over backwards to make that happen.
“Whatever has gone wrong, the hole has been filled and there have been tests further down the street to make sure everything is OK, so things are looking good.”
Mr Cooney added that the chilly temperatures last night had made the setting of the road surface more tricky.
A council spokesman said that “water ingress” had caused the hole in the road in the first place.
But the local authority confirmed the road was reopened at about 8pm last night, after the new surface had been given time to set.