East Yorkshire village cut in half after sewer collapse

The roadworks on the High street started in May

A village has been cut in half by roadworks following the collapse of a sewer, residents have said.

Part of the High Street in Hook, in East Yorkshire, has been closed to traffic since May due to a sink hole.

Yorkshire Water said repairs to the sewer were "more complex than originally thought" as electricity and gas pipes were in the way.

The firm apologised for the disruption and said it hoped the work would be finished by 17 July.

Drivers have to go on a five-mile (8km) diversion to get round the road closure.

Jenni Watson, chair of the parish council, described it as a "catalogue of disasters".

"In April and May outside the shop the road started to sink, causing the underside of vehicles to scrape on the road," she said.

After the hole had twice been filled in, the subsidence continued, she added.

Drivers are facing a five-mile diversion to get round the road closure in Hook, near Goole

Ms Watson said the repairs had been hampered by overhead phone lines which would have to be removed before a large excavator could be brought in to dig down to the sewer.

She criticised Yorkshire Water for providing "very little information".

"The curious thing is that two months on, they are now looking at a plan they should have looked at two months ago," she said.

"We should have had much more communication than we have had."

In a statement, Yorkshire Water said the work required specialist equipment for a deeper dig which had "uncovered other utility cables and pipework within the excavation which are preventing further activity on site".

The firm added that it would be meeting with other utility providers "to develop a plan to complete the work as quickly and safely as possible".

"We continue to liaise closely with the local authority highways team to try to keep disruption to a minimum and we apologise for the inconvenience caused," a spokesperson said.