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Sinkhole on Broad Street

The cavity has caused plumbing and traffic problems

Broad Street has been closed this week after a sinkhole opened outside out of the Weston Library. The sinkhole extended approximately a metre underground.

Students have voiced frustration at the disruption caused by the hole. It was meant to have been fixed by Wednesday afternoon. However, Thames Water has had to delay re-opening the road, citing the “complex” nature of the problem, given the historical significance of the area.

The sinkhole caused a water pipe under the road to burst. Due to the incident, parts of Turl Street have lost their access to cold water.

Exeter College has apologised to students for the inconvenience. A spokesperson for the college said: “Normal service should be resumed soon. You may have noticed that there is a loss of cold water in some areas of College. This is due to a burst water mains pipe in Broad St that is currently being repaired.

“Normal service should be resumed soon, in the meantime PLEASE make sure you turn off any taps that you may have turned on, to avoid the risk of flooding when the cold water service returns.”

A student at Exeter College said: “The difficulties of filling up my water bottle during my library breaks never cease – I’ve been forced to find ever more creative ways to parch my thirst.”

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