'Lucky to be alive' (From The Wiltshire Gazette and Herald)

'Lucky to be alive'

Above, divers recover the Renault Megane from the lake (17463)A MAN who was run over by his own car as he tried desperately to prevent it rolling into a lake is "lucky to be alive."

The 56-year-old man, from Compton, near Reading, was fishing with his teenage son at Shearwater Lake, Longleat, when the accident happened on Friday morning.

His car was parked on a grass verge near the old sailing clubhouse when the electric handbrake failed and it began rolling slowly towards the lake.

After wrestling with the moving vehicle the man was forced backwards into the water before the car came crashing down on top of him.

Fortunately, he emerged from the lake unscathed and was treated for minor back injuries by paramedics who attended the scene.

Eyewitness Martin Adlam, from Shropshire, watched the drama unfold from the lakeside.

Mr Adlam said: "He is lucky to be alive. The image of him trying to stop the car before it tumbled over him will stick with me forever."

The car, a brand new Renault Megane Scenic, drifted 50ft into the middle of the lake before a specialist recovery crew pulled it from the water.

Two qualified divers from Griffin's Rescue, of Warminster, were called to the lake just before midday.

They swam out to assess the vehicle before attaching a winch and several floats so it could be towed back to shore.

Griffin's co-owner Paul Griffin, who oversaw the four-hour operation, said: "That was a pretty big fish we had to catch. It was a real challenge to pull it from the lake and unsurprisingly the car was a complete write-off.

"This is not the first time we've attended a scene of this nature.

"Once we had to recovery a stolen dumper truck from a river in Bradford on Avon and just last year we pulled a silage tractor trailer from a bungalow roof in Dilton Marsh."

Shearwater water bailiff Jackie Robins was one of the first people on the scene.

Mrs Robins said: "When I arrived the car was half sunk and within a few minutes only the rails on the roof-rack were visible above the water line.

"This is not the first time this has happened at Shearwater.

"We always advise people to park at right angles to the lake and to make sure they keep their hand brake on. Just to be on the safe side I put my car in reverse as well.

"It sounds like a stupid thing to do to throw yourself in front of a moving car but I'm sure I would have reacted in exactly the same way. It's a natural thing to want to protect your property.

"I'm just glad the man wasn't badly hurt and I hope now that he has learned his lesson."