Andrew Clarkson (29), of Mulgrave Road, was walking to his girlfriend's house a week last Sunday when the incident happened.

It left him requiring hospital treatment and he has since been back twice for physiotherapy and is walking with a limp following the fall.

It happened just after 6pm when Mr Clarkson was walking on a path between Newton Street and Walker Street.

He said: "I needed to pick my son up so I was walking back towards my girlfriend's house through a cobbled street.

"There was a slightly raised stone in the middle of the path and as I stood on it it broke into three pieces and I fell probably four and a half feet.

"I was trapped with one arm and a leg down the hole and another leg sticking out and I was in quite a bit of pain, especially in my hand which was trapped."

Luckily, he was with two friends at the time who managed to free him from the hole.

He was given stitches at the hospital and suffered a number of injuries including severe lacerations to his right hand, fluid under his knee cap, cuts, bruising to right leg and arm and has an infection of the blood.

He said the injuries have affected his life.

"I work as a chef and at the minute my hand is so bad I can barely lift a kettle, so I'm not sure when I'll be able to go back to work," he said.

Mr Clarkson is also an accomplished martial arts expert and trains for 90 minutes every day.

"I have had to stop as I'm finding it hard enough to walk right now."

The Whitby Gazette contacted North Yorkshire County Council, Scarborough Borough Council and Yorkshire Water about who is responsible for the maintenance of the manhole.

All of them claimed it was not their responsibility and did not fall within their boundaries.

However, the hole has since been repaired and a metal manhole cover has been put over it.

David Creek, maintenance manager for the County Council's Highways department, said only around a dozen of the 100 or so joining paths in Whitby fall under the control of the council and it is possible this manhole is actually the responsibility of one of the residents who live nearby.