The silver two-door Peugeot went head first into the sinkhole
The silver two-door Peugeot went head first into the sinkhole
A huge sinkhole has opened on a street in the heart of the Gold Coast tourist strip, almost swallowing a car that found itself in the wrong place at the wrong time.

The huge hole opened on Short Street at Southport, adjacent to the Australia Fair shopping centre and just off the Marine Parade esplanade.

The silver Peugeot coupe went nose first into the sinkhole which cracked open suddenly due to broken water pipes.

The car sank into the hole around 4am on Thursday, with major damage to the road and footpath.


The scene drew plenty of curious onlookers and caused early morning traffic snarls.

A council repair crew arrived and hoisted the car out of the hole by 10am.

The shattered parts of the road and the burst water pipes were expected to be fixed late on Thursday evening, with Gold Coast City Council saying Short Street would remain closed until that time.

'We apologise for any inconvenience and thank all customers, residents and visitors for their patience and assistance,' they said.

Motorists have been urged to avoid the area with repairs to the street and the burst water main ongoing.

A local resident Carolyn Brown, told the Courier Mail that she often uses the space where the sinkhole opened up, to park her own car.

'My goodness, quite often I park there,' she said.

'I just saw the coupe car and thought 'what's going on here?'.

'Just as I'm coming in I saw this, wow!'