A DRIVER was brought down to earth with a bump when she came across an unmarked maintenance hole in the middle of the road.

Forty-five-year-old Jennifer Griffiths, of Walshaw Road, Bury, was negotiating the easterly junction of Lichfield Drive and Woodhill Road when the front offside wheel of her Ford Ka suddenly dropped into the four-foot excavation.

The hole, dug by gas pipeline company Transco, had no barriers or markings around it when the incident occurred.

Mrs Griffiths, who was not hurt, said: "I was just coming around at the junction and there was a pedestrian coming across the road, so I was looking at him when it happened.

"When the wheel went down I was terrified and wondered where I was going.

"I think it's appalling. My main concern would be for children or mums with prams who might not see the hole if it was dark, and could fall in."

Transco were called out after highways chiefs were alerted to the problem by staff at engineering firm Kadant, which stands opposite the junction. The car was removed by a recovery team, and the hole plated over.

A spokeswoman for Transco said that the fencing around the gap had been shifted without their knowledge.

She said: "The barriers were there when our team left the hole but were obviously moved in the meantime.

"We are sorry that it happened. We do everything we can to avoid such a situation, but sometimes we are subject to these silly pranks."