How do you rescue a tanker stuck in a sinkhole? 20 tons of stone and a few railway sleepers should do the trick
A tanker stuck in a sinkhole at Shrewsbury's weir has been removed after engineers completed an operation to free it.
The tanker had become stuck on Monday when workers from Shropshire Council were cleaning the towpath.
The back wheel of the vehicle had become lodged in a sinkhole.
Now the council has revealed how it freed the vehicle – by filling the hole full of stone, and using airbags and railway sleepers to lift the tanker before hauling it out.
Investigations are ongoing to work out what caused the sinkhole to appear on the towpath, and how best to repair it.
A spokesman for the council explained how the tanker was eventually freed, saying: "We imported 20 tons of large clean stone, then filled the hole halfway by hand/wheelbarrow to stabilise the vehicle having first protected the water outlet with a type of crate.
"Using pneumatic airbags we then lifted the vehicle rear to give us improved access to the hole, before filling it with stone to as high a level as possible.
"Railway sleepers were used to choc the vehicle rear even higher, before more clean stone was added to the hole.
"We then hauled the vehicle out using a specialist towing vehicle with fixed outriggers to ensure it didn’t move."
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