A SECTION of a Taunton town centre street was closed for more than 24 hours after a near-miss incident.

A massive pile driver slipped off a ramp in St James Street as it was being loaded up to be transported away at around 5.30am yesterday (Wednesday).

The tracks on one side of the vehicle ended up on the road.

A spokeswoman for St James Street said if the ramp had been higher the pile driver could have crashed through flats in St James Court, which is directly opposite the scene of the mishap.

She added: "It could have been far worse."

The pile driver had been used during pre-construction work on the multi-million pound Coal Orchard development.

St James Street was un-passable until earlier this morning (Thursday).

Vehicles had been able to approach the section of road from Middle Street, but were unable to get through and had to turn around, causing chaos at peak times.

Traders praised Midas staff for calling into shops and businesses to keep people informed of the situation.