£120,000 Range Rover swallowed by tide while trying to rescue van stuck in sand

A £120,000 Range Rover was fully submerged by the rising tide in Scarborough this weekend after trying to tow a friend’s van to safety.

The driver was forced to abandon his luxury SUV when the rescue mission backfired in North Yorkshire.

Crowds gathered as the high-performance Range Rover SVR attempted to drag a stranded Transit van out of the sea.

At one point, the pair even tried digging the vehicles free with a plastic spade, but after multiple failed attempts, the 4×4 became stuck as well.

The men rejected help from locals before both vehicles were eventually completely submerged.

Eyewitness Sammy Hellewell, 39, filmed the bungled rescue attempt and said: ‘Some local people did go down and give them some advice to try and use the jet skis to get it out of the sand, but they were quite rude to him and gave him the impression that they knew what they were doing and told them to leave them alone.’

‘It was absolutely stupid, that’s why I recorded it. I filmed it for my father-in-law. I thought he would find it hilarious with how silly they were being, trying to get these cars free.

‘The driver has clearly reversed it into the jet ski and got stuck,’ she added.

‘The Range Rover was fully mobile, and then the back wheels started to sink while they weren’t paying attention. I think they were a group together.

‘At points, they were trying to lift the front of the van. A lot of it was really stupid.

“By the end, they were fully submerged. We left the scene after a couple of hours. The last time we headed off home at 10.30 in the evening, they were completely submerged, you could just see the aerial of the van sticking out the water.’

Sammy said rescue workers who were waiting for the tide to go out before towing the vehicles told him the insurance for both would be void.

‘They said they would be billing the parties involved,’ she added.

Both vehicles were eventually hauled out of the beach by diggers.

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