A tow truck equipped with a hoist has removed a BMW from a sinkhole that suddenly appeared in a Scarborough driveway, almost swallowing the SUV.

Fannie Lau, the owner of the black luxury SUV, said she discovered the gaping hole on the driveway of her house located near Warden and Sheppard Avenues just before 6 a.m. Wednesday.

"I found that the water is coming out from the ground of my driveway so I tried to remove my car before it gets worse, but I couldn't," Fannie Lau told CTV Toronto."It got stuck there."

Lau's neighbour, Mary Salmaninejad, said water was gushing from a burst pipe beneath the driveway.

"My mom woke me up and said she heard a waterfall," Salmaninejad said. "She said, it's not raining, so I quickly came out to see this mess here."

City of Toronto crews were called to fix the problem, but by the time they had arrived, the sinkhole had expanded and chunks of the driveway had collapsed. Lau said it took the city approximately three hours to turn the water off. The SUV was eventually lifted out of the sinkhole using a hoist on a tow truck. It took workers approximately eight hours.

Crews on the scene confirmed a water main broke. A separate water main break was recently fixed elsewhere in the townhouse complex. Crews that examined the depth of the hole reported it is nearly three-metres deep.

The condo board, which is responsible for footing the driveway repair bill, estimates it will cost at least $10,000 to fix. The development was built in 1975.

George Du, the vice president of the condo board, says they plan to use sonar technology to survey the pipe system in the area, in order to locate any other cracks or holes. He says the board will cover the surveying cost, but homeowners will have to pay for any significant repairs.

With a report from CTV Toronto's Heather Wright

Scarborough sinkhole