A COLLAPSED chimney sent rubble smashing through a skylight and forced the closure of a main road in Selby town centre.

Brook Street – part of the old A19 through the town – was shut on Tuesday evening amid safety fears, and it remained closed through yesterday while efforts were made to make the chimney safe.

Jake Scaum said he had been asleep in the three-storey terraced house in Brook Street when part of the chimney stack collapsed early on Tuesday.

He said bricks and mortar crashed through a skylight in the roof and tumbled down the stairs, while other rubble rolled down the roof and landed on the roof of a kitchen extension down below, causing serious damage.

“Fortunately there was no one on the stairs at the time,” he said. “It woke me up with a couple of loud bangs.”

He said experts with a cherry picker were trying yesterday afternoon to ensure the chimney was safe so that the road could be re-opened, and then scaffolding would need to be installed for full repairs to be carried out.

North Yorkshire County Council said the road was shut at 7pm on Tuesday and remained closed through yesterday, with traffic, mostly local and delivery vehicles, taking alternative routes to get through the town.

A spokeswoman for bus operator Arriva said the road’s closure impacted on services in Selby, saying it meant the Doncaster 405 service could not serve the main street Gowthorpe, Brook Street or the first two stops on Doncaster Road.

The county council spokeswoman said last night that highways engineers using a cherry picker were removing loose bricks in the hope of making it safe to re-open the road later in the evening.