Sabden road hit by huge collapse

Police and United Utilities had to be called to Padiham Road after parts of the pavement and a wall collapsed at around 4 p.m.

Seven surrounding streets and a caravan park saw their water supply affected, but workers managed to restore full service shortly after.

Traffic was restricted coming through the village while the authorities dealt with the incident.

The cause of the collapse, which saw several tonnes of rubble and earth fall into Sabden Brook, still remains unclear.

However, reports from the scene suggested it may have been triggered by a heavy goods vehicle passing.

A spokesman for United Utilities said: “A large part of the pavement and wall had collapsed and fallen away. We started getting calls from people losing their water supply by 4-20 p.m. but by 6 p.m. we managed to get everybody back on by re-routing the water through another pipe.

“We are sorry for the disruption by the collapse which was beyond our control.”