THE ENVIRONMENT AGENCY has called on a company to "do the decent thing" and pay for repairs after its lorry fell into a picturesque village stream, destroying the bank and prompting a rescue by a second lorry.

The truck, pictured here, was laying pebbles on a small road in Sutton Courtenay from 2pm yesterday when it fell into the Ginge Brook.

Villager James Walton captured a series of pictures of the lorry falling into the stream on its side and the massive damage to the bankside afterwards.

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He said: "It's ridiculous.

"The delicate banks of the stream simply collapsed under its weight."

The lorry split a large amount of gravel chips onto the adjacent bank and also caused minor damage to the stream, which Mr Walton said is rich in wildlife including newts, water voles and king fishers.

Environment Agency officers were at the scene yesterday and returned today to assess the damage.

Spokesman Dan Taylor said today: "We inspected the site again at first light this morning, and while the odour was still present, again, there was no evidence of any pollution.

"However, the lorry has pushed part of the bank into the brook, and shed a reasonably large amount of its load of gravel chips onto the adjacent bank.

"We will be contacting the company that owns the vehicle and asking them to remove this material to ensure it does not cause any flood risk.

"We hope they also do the decent thing and repair the damage this incident has caused, although that is a matter for the landowner to take up with them."

Mr Walton said he believed the lorry, belonging to Highway Asphalt of Witney, had been hired to re-surface the minor road on behalf of one of his neighbours, because the road was not maintained by the council.

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This morning Mr Walton asked: "Why did Highway Asphalt accept the instruction of a private householder to mess about with an unadopted, commonly-owned lane, giving no warning to anyone else?

"Why did they think it was safe to send a 10 tonne lorry down the lane?

"To what standard will the repairs be done? Right now the road is impassable."

The Oxford Mail contacted Highway Asphalt for a comment but the firm has not yet responded.