A BURST water main has caused a sinkhole in a road, closing it for a number of days.

A large section of Markland Hill, off Chorley New Road, had to be closed to motorists yesterday after water started to fill the road.

United Utilities said it attended the incident and managed to keep water running at for as many properties as possible while the water main was leaking onto the road.

The road had to be closed from around 3pm on Monday and was closed throughout the day yesterday.

The road partially collapsed between The Victoria Inn pub and Ashleigh Drive, with council officers quickly on the scene.

Residents reported seeing a police cordon in place soon after the road was closed with heavy flooding spreading over much of the road.

United Utilities says it is currently carrying out repairs to the road, which is why traffic is still being limited.

A spokesman for the company said: “Our engineers repaired a leak on a water main on Markland Hill in Bolton yesterday evening.

“We sent our water-on-wheels tankers to the area to keep the taps flowing for as many properties as possible while we carried out the repair.

“We’ve put temporary traffic management in place so that our engineers can safely reinstate the road.

"We apologise for any inconvenience caused.”

Bolton Council confirmed to The Bolton News that the sinkhole was caused by a burst water main.

The road is set to remain closed until tomorrow while repairs are carried out.

A similar incident occurred in early March when a burst water main filled Blackburn Road at Dunscar Bridge, with water causing chaos for motorists.

A significant section of the road had to be repaired due to the damage caused by the large water main, with many residents left without water because of this.