A DIVER has today braved freezing waters to remove a car which careered off the road and into a Fenland drain last week.

The car entered the Sixteen Foot Drain near Christchurch but the driver managed to escape before the vehicle crashed into the water.

Parts of the Sixteen Foot Bank road were closed this morning as a team of divers worked to remove the yellow car from underneath two inches of solid ice.

Paul Taylor, Managing Director of Dive Tech, said a diver was forced to swim underneath the ice to attach an axel to the car, allowing it to be winched out of the drain.

“The diver was in the water for around half an hour,” said Mr Taylor. “It was easily minus eight and could have been colder. He had to come up for a couple of minutes in between.

“He did try to break his way through the ice but in the middle it was two inches thick so he had to go under it to get to the car.

“It was a successful job and the car has been removed, preventing the petrol and the oil from causing pollution to the water.”