A car ended up perfectly wedged inside a hole after crashing through roadworks near Bury Football Club.
The vehicle ploughed through traffic cones, plastic barriers and a metal fence before somehow landing fully inside the dug out pit on Monday night.
A photo shared with the Manchester Evening News shows the silver-coloured car in the hole with its lights still on.
The works on Manchester Road in Redvales - next to the playing fields near the junction with Gigg Lane - are being carried out by United Utilities.
A spokesman for the company said that overnight work was supposed to have been going ahead on Monday night, but it had to be postponed.
Had it not, there would have probably been engineers in the hole when the car crashed.
It is understood that they were carrying out work on an 18-inch pipe that provides water to many homes in the area, which if damaged would have flooded the hole very quickly.
The vehicle had been removed by the time United Utilities arrived on Tuesday morning. All that remained was glass and other debris.
Work was able to continue.
A United Utilities spokesperson said: "We are carrying out some work on a large water main at this location.
"The traffic management equipment, including signage, cones and barriers, was all in position when our team left the site yesterday.
"We had planned to do some overnight work last night and it was fortunate that this had been postponed so there was no-one in the excavation at the time."
Exact details of the crash - or any injuries or arrests - have not yet been confirmed by police.
GMP have been approached for comment.
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