A COMMUNITY support officer hospitalised after the ground beneath her exploded has shrugged off her ordeal as `all in a day's work'.

Nicola Shipway was on a beat in Oldham when she heard an underground eruption near roadworks.

She went to investigate and as she crouched down, there was a loud bang and the pavement in front of her disintegrated - sending debris flying into her face.

Nicola, 33, was knocked over by the force of the blast and lost her sight for a few seconds.

She said: "It felt like I was punched in the face. I was on the floor and couldn't see anything. I was panicking and quite frightened."

Fire crews and ambulances were called for after the explosion, which happened at 9.50am on Yorkshire Street in Oldham yesterday .

Cuts

Nicola, from Blackley, was taken to the Royal Oldham Hospital where she was treated for cuts to her arm and scratches on her eye.

"They've told me to stay away from sunlight for seven days," she said.

"Apparently there are a lot of scratches on my eye but they've given me strong painkillers and drops."

She said that she is taking the incident in her stride.

"The whole thing was quite bizarre and I've never known anything like it happen before," she said.

"Because there were road works I just thought it was a gas leak. My main concern was making sure the area was cleared when it happened and I was a bit shocked.

"But I suppose it's all in a day's work - anything can happen in this job."

Several roads were closed after the blast while an investigation was carried out.

A spokeswoman for United Utilities said the explosion centred around a service cable into a disused pub.

She added: "It could have been caused by water getting in there but we are still investigating. 37 customers lost power but we managed to restore that a few hours later."