A CAR had to be pulled out the estuary after it plunged into the water off Two Tree Island in Leigh.

Mystery surrounds what caused the accident, but coastguards said the driver managed to get out of the vehicle without any injuries.

The Mazda ML plunged into the water from the slipway on the island at about 11.30pm on Saturday and a recovery operation took place at 6am on Sunday to successfully retrieve it.

Mick Allwood, station officer at Canvey Coastguard, said it was simply a mistake by the driver and his car is almost certainly a write off.

He said: “The guy made a mistake and drove off the end of the slipway. He drove the front two wheels off the slipway and wasn’t able to retrieve it in time before the tide came over the top of it.

“By the next morning the vehicle had moved off the slipway, it was probably the weight of the tyre that had done that.”

The owner had access to a recovery vehicle so he actually managed to retrieve his own vehicle, overseen by the coastguards.

Mr Allwood added: “We viewed it on Saturday night and discussed over the options and the best way to deal with it.

“He did it himself and we oversaw it for safety reasons.

“It was just a mistake to be honest. I don’t really know why he was down there to be honest.”

The station officer said the car will be a write off, as the owner had to smash the windows to get the chains on during recovery and it was full with sea water which is extremely damaging to cars.