A HOLE that suddenly appeared in the middle of a street has been caused by a leaking drain. 

The six inch hole in Sutherland Street, Barrow was reported to Cumbria Police on Sunday night by a concerned member of the public. 

On inspection the police decided that it was best to close the street. 

A spokesman for Cumbria Police said: "When you look down into the hole it looks like there isn't any support under the tarmac, meaning the hole could get bigger. 

"We have closed the street for people's safety and are asking people to not remove the barriers that have been put in place. 

"We just don't want anyone to drive down the road and potentially get injured." 

At around 11am today Cumbria County Council workmen showed up to to inspect the hole. 

They also noticed that the road itself had begun to dip in. 

After investigating the damage they have come to the conclusion that it has been caused by a leaking drain pipe. 

The water spilling out has then washed away parts of the road underneath the tarmac. 

One resident from Sutherland Street, who wishes to remain anonymous, isn't surprised that that this has happened. 

She said: "We are getting a tremendous amount of traffic down this street and it is in such bad condition. 

"The council need to sort this street out - there's a lot of elderly people that live down here as well as children. 

"The street has been in a bad state for a while now and its deteriorated over the past five years. 

"The council are failing in their duty to keep our roads safe." 

Now it has been discovered that the problem is a leaking pipe the work of fixing the problem will now be passed over to United Utilities. 

A spokeswoman from United Utilities said: "Cumbria County Council have contacted us and we will be going out to investigate the damage as soon as possible."