A WOMAN and her toddler grand-daughter escaped serious injury when a pavement collapsed beneath them.
Grandmother Irene Duffy plunged into a 6ft deep hole and suffered a suspected broken leg when paving flags on Northgate, Almondbury, gave way.
Mrs Duffy was leaving Rowley's newsagents pushing her grand-daughter's pram at about 11.40am yesterday .
A woman working yards from the scene at the Tan Plus Solarium is believed to have dragged the pushchair, containing one-year-old Michaela Duffy, from the edge of the pit to safety.
Pensioner Mrs Duffy, of Snapes Fold, Almondbury, was trapped in the hole for about an hour as firefighters and paramedics rescued her.
An eyewitness in the tanning shop at the time of the incident, who did not wish to be named, said: "She was just walking past with the pram when all of a sudden there was a noise like "whoosh" and all the pavement broke up.
"The lady went straight in and the pram was upside down on the edge of the hole.
"A woman ran out and grabbed the pram and the little girl was fine.
"But we just all panicked and didn't know what to do."
She called her boyfriend Andrew Bussey, 28, of Northgate, to help.
He said: "I heard it and jumped straight down the hole to help her.
"Her leg seemed badly broken and she was cut.
"The hole was about 5ft wide but there was another 3ft on either side that wasn't supported.
"The main thing is that she is alright. It could have been a lot worse."
Mrs Duffy was taken to Huddersfield Royal Infirmary by ambulance with leg injuries.
Her son Andrew Duffy, 40, of Newsome, was shocked.
He said: "She went straight down and somebody in the shop saved my daughter from going down there too."
But Mark Dobson, principal engineer for maintenance at Kirklees Council's highways department, said a full investigation would be carried out.
He said: "At a guess I would say some sort of water problem has washed the sub-soil underneath the pavement away, but I have no idea what could have caused it.
"It could have been very serious and the lady has been lucky."
