A GAS engineer narrowly escaped falling into an underground cavern after a hole opened up under his feet on his own drive.
James Parkin, 34, had just got home to his house in Lidgett Lane, Tankersley, stepped out of his van and the ground started collapsing under him.
He said: "I shone my torch down this cylindrical crumbling hole and saw it led into a space about eight foot deep and six foot across."
John Delaney, corporate services manager for the Coal Authority, said it had fixed the hole and said it was thought to be due to the collapse of an unrecorded shallow mine working.
** The full story appeared in the Barnsley Chronicle newspaper, dated February 28. **
