A SINKHOLE forced the evacuation of offices and shops.

Employees from the car garage on Bennet Road, Reading, were forced to evacuate the building after the sinkhole opened up at around 2pm on Tuesday June 26.

Thames Water confirmed that the issue was a burst water pipe, which had then in turn caused the sinkhole.

An employee of the car garage on Bennet Road contacted The Chronicle and explained that they were being moved out of their building.

He said: “There’s a massive sinkhole that has just opened up, it just randomly appeared in the middle of the road.

“The road is closed both ways, and they are moving people out of their buildings.”

Thames Water tweeted: “I’ve taken a look and our techs will be carrying out a repair to a fix a burst water pipe at this location. They’ll be working as quickly as they can.”