A TOWN'S harbour well known for its seals has had another silver visitor to its waters when a motorist's car became partly submerged in water after he left it parked on the slipway.
The owner of the silver Peugot 307 got a shock when he returned to find it engulfed in water up to its roof by the incoming tide at Dunbar harbour, East Lothian.
The owner of the drenched vehicle, from Dunfermline, Fife, had been delayed after his own sailing boat had broken down and he had to be rescued by the local lifeboat crew.
Gary Fairbairn, coxswain of Dunbar RNLI, said his crew was called out to rescue the driver at around 1pm on Saturday.
Gary said: "The car owner unfortunately left his car on the harbour slipway while he went for a spot of fishing.
"We were called out to look for him after his car had been reported to the police. We managed to locate the man in his boat just off Dunbar, he had broken down, but we didn't have the heart to tell him about his car until we got back to land.
"To say he wasn't happy is an understatement. We managed to pull the car to safety by using ropes to haul it ashore. But I'm pretty sure it will be written off."
The watery mishap has been shared hundreds of times online and jokers on the Heart of Dunbar Facebook page have been quick to poke fun at the car's owner.
David Hingley, head of visitor services at Hampton Court in London, who was trying to spot seals, tweeted an image of the unusual visitor to the waters, adding sardonically: "Not a seal".
Alan Hardwick said: "I think the engine is flooded."
Douglas Turnbull added: "Not an ideal plaice to park - basking for trouble if you ask me."
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article