Water woe for Land Rover

IN terms of expensive mistakes, this has to be worthy of a prize.

The owners of this Land Rover Freelander were backing their boat into the water at Crow Point, Braunton, North Devon, when the vehicle became stuck in the sand.

As they tried to free it, the wheels became bogged down further and the vehicle eventually bottomed on the sand.

College lecturer Peter Stapleton noticed something unusual in the water while out fishing nearby on his jetski.

He said: "At first I saw what I thought was a roof rack and decided it needed to be pulled out before someone was hurt.

"But as I got closer I realised there was a vehicle attached to it.

"I later learned that once the owners discovered they weren't going to get the vehicle out of the water, they decided they would go out in their boat until the tide went out again.

"Once the tide had gone out, we looked inside – there were no fish, but there was water everywhere. It was definitely a write-off."

The five-year-old vehicle was eventually recovered.

Mr Stapleton said: "I think the man's wife doesn't want him going anywhere near the water for a while."