A SIDE street has been closed in York city centre while work takes place on a suspected damaged sewer, after a hole opened up in the road.

The three-foot wide hole appeared in Tanner Row, close to City of York Council’s headquarters, West Offices, and was first reported to Yorkshire Water early Friday morning.

A barrier was placed around the hole to stop traffic being caught out.

Emily Brady, from Yorkshire Water, said: "We’ve been working with City of York Council to understand the cause of the damage to the highway on Tanner Row. We’ve done some initial investigations and we believe our sewer has been damaged and we need to dig up the road to investigate further and do any necessary work to fix it."

She confirmed that this work was due to start yesterday and Tanner Row had been closed to traffic so its technicians can safely carry out the work.

"A signed diversion route will be in place," she added.

"We’re sorry for any localised disruption this may cause.”

She also said that, with Tanner Row being within the city walls, Yorkshire Water had to complete the necessary forms due to this being an archaeologically sensitive area before it could start to dig through the road.

A City of York Council spokeswoman said the road is expected to remain closed until the end of Friday.