That sinking feeling: Motorist parks on slipway to save £2 car park fee and watches it get carried out to sea
Last updated at 4:05 PM on 17th July 2011
A stingy motorist was left ruing his false economy when his cunning parking spot proved not to be so clever after all.
In order to avoid the £2 fee at a nearby car park, the driver used to leave his sports car on a public slipway.
But this plan badly backfired when the tide came in and started carrying his flash motor out to sea, as a watching policeman was powerless to help.
Submerged: This Alfa Romeo joined historic ships in the Solent
The Alfa Romeo Spider, which would cost around £30,000 new, had been left on a slipway in Portsmouth, near the city's Historic Dockyard, while its owner commuted to London.
Although the slipway is clearly marked as being exclusively for the use of fishermen to load and unload their boats, the motorist parked there on Friday morning and took a train to London.
Around lunchtime, the tide started to come in, and the car was soon engulfed.
Drifting away: The car's owner probably regrets not splashing out £2 on a car park
The car's owner could not be contacted, but police tracked down his son-in-law, Steve Sterling.
Mr Sterling said, 'He's had the car for a few years and it really is his pride and joy.
'He will be upset when he finds out what's happened to it. It's ridiculous.'
However, a local fisherman was unsympathetic: 'He's not supposed to be here.
'This area is only for the fishing boys to load their nets but he still parks here every day.'
There is a car park across the road from the slipway.
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2015717/That-sinking-feeling-Motorist-parks-slipway-save-2-car-park-fee-watches-carried-sea.html#ixzz1SPvvyc4Z
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