A MAJOR road in York will be closed from midday after a sinkhole appeared following roadworks.

Bishopthorpe Road will be temporarily closed from noon today (Monday) after a sinkhole appeared whilst City of York Council were carrying out signal upgrade works.

But in a tweet Cllr Andy D'Agorne, the council's executive member for transport, said the road could be shut for a few days as "it's a big hole to fix" and "now we know it is there it needs fixing properly to avoid problems later".

Since September 9, vehicles have been prohibited from turning right from Scarcroft Road onto Bishopthorpe Road to allow signal work to be undertaken. 

The council said that the road - between the junctions of Charlton Street and Scarcroft Road - will be temporarily closed from 12pm today to allow them to investigate and repair a sinkhole which appeared under the carriageway.

The junction will be re-opened as soon as possible, but until further investigations are carried out it is not known how long the work will take to be completed.

York Council said that a diversion route is in place for travellers and will follow Campleshon Road, Knavesmire Road, Tadcaster Road, The Mount and Scarcroft Road.

Bus passengers are asked to visit www.itravelyork.info for more information on how the closure will impact on their journey.

James Gilchrist, Assistant Director of Transport, Highways, and Environment, City of York Council, said: “We apologise for the inconvenience this emergency closure will cause. We are working with our contractors to resolve the issue as soon as possible and will update travellers on timescales as soon as possible.”