At 9.45 a car fell into a sinkhole in Rouen Road in Norwich.
Almost six hours later, it was finally lifted out by Highway Maintenance.
No one was hurt but the driver described himself as feeling shaken by the incident.
Jamie Clare, 45, and Sarah Larter, 39, of Ranworth Road were parking outside Norwich Practices Health Centre when the hole opened up without warning, trapping their Citroën Picasso in the road.
Mr Clare said: 'I just heard this awful clunk, and I thought I'd hit something, but I hadn't.'
The couple were especially distressed by this because they had been planning on travelling to their wedding next week at Norwich Castle in the car.
Anglian Water workers spent the afternoon drilling the road to main the source of the leak, a cast iron supply pipe to Prospect House, and could continue fixing the sinkhole over the weekend.
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