The 3ftx1ft crater appears to have been caused by a collapse underneath the surface in the middle of a pedestrian crossing in Hope Street, at its junction with West George Street.

This latest break-up of the city's roads has been called one of the worse because it is difficult for drivers to see.

Taxi driver Paul, from King's Park, said: "I have hit the one in Hope Street, it's terrible.

"It's worse because you don't see it, especially if the sun is hitting it.

"And if you are wedged in the middle of three lanes of traffic and there is no room for manoeuvre, then you have got to go through it, even if you know you might cause problems."

The 49-year-old's taxi has been damaged on numerous occasions from potholes in the city, the most recent of which saw him having to pay £500 for repairs to his front axle.

He believes the work the council has done on the roads – despite costing millions of pounds – has been patch-up jobs and has not got to the heart of Glasgow's pothole and sinkhole problems.

He added: All the council is doing is filling in holes on the surface, it is just fire-fighting, but you need to go deep down into the layers of the road and repair the cause.

"What they do now means that after four or five days of heavy traffic the road goes back to the way it was."

John Halliday, 57, from Pollok, stumbled when he walked through the Hope Street pothole.

He believes it is even more dangerous because of the volume of traffic that thunders across it.

He said: "You think it is just drivers that have to worry about potholes, but you can't see the one in Hope Street until you have fallen down it.

"It is a danger to the public and drivers."

Now in its third year, the Evening Times' Pothole Watch campaign was launched to monitor and expose the poor conditions of Glasgow's roads.

Since then, the paper has been flooded with complaints from thousands of angry readers who have had problems with city roads.

In 2009, we reported a similar deep hole in Hope Street, which Glasgow City Council had to cordon off to stop vehicles hitting the hole.

Part of the road opposite the Watt Brothers' store had sunk while two other potholes were reported.

They were just yards away, outside Molly Malone's bar, near the junction of Renfrew Street.

At the start of 2011, after months of highlighting the decaying condition of the street, the council quickly filled in a gap at the busy Sauchiehall Street pedestrian crossing after we published the concerns of many angry dricers and pedestrians.

Even as late as December 2011 workmen spent four weeks repairing and resurfacing the entire street, which is also a route for hundreds of buses daily.

Amy Lawson, 21, from Cumbernauld, has had problems as a motorist in the city and also as a pedestrian.

The civil servant said: "Driving on the roads is so bad, you can really feel the jolts when you are going through the holes.

"I ended up with a flat tyre after going through one and have also tripped badly in one. They are dangerous for pedestrians, especially older people.

"My gran is registered blind and has come into the city centre and fallen in a pothole walking across the road.

"We took pictures and sent them to the council, but nothing was done."

Claims on damage to vehicles by potholes has gone up by more than 800% in the last four years, with the council paying out more than £335,000 in compensation for damaged vehicles.

A city council spokesman said: "Subsidence in Hope Street appeared over the weekend, which we are inspecting. Depending on the findings, traffic may have to be reduced temporarily to one lane for repair works to be carried out."

fiona.mckay@ eveningtimes.co.uk