Owner gets sunken car back

A SUBMERGED CAR that was abandoned because of flooding on the Somerset Levels has been reunited with its owner.

Hubert Zajaczkowski, 21, was forced to leave his Seat Toledo on a road near the village of Muchelney on Christmas Eve because of the rising water.

For weeks, the car remained stranded under several feet of water, filmed and photographed by national and international media and press as an illustration of the disaster unfolding in Somerset.

It was even commented on by the Prince of Wales and Prime Minister David Cameron.

The £600 saloon has remained submerged for more than two months but as the flood levels recede Mr Zajaczkowski has been able to reclaim his car.

He got behind the wheel for the first time since December 24 when it was towed from where he had left it by an old military amphibious vehicle.

"In a way I feel proud to be driving it at the moment," Mr Zajaczkowski told the BBC.

"I wasn't expecting my car to be on telly and then eventually international news and in newspapers.

"Everyone was pretty much talking about it, including the Prince of Wales and apparently David Cameron."

Mr Zajaczkowski said the car, which he had been planning on selling before the floods, stank.

"It smells. It is unbelievably disgusting in there," he said.

"I was trying to get home after work and this is the route I took and of course I got stuck in the water. It has been here ever since, since Christmas Eve."

Mr Zajaczkowski, an apprentice at AgustaWestland in Yeovil, found that his keys for his work locker, his sleeping bag and his insurance documents were still in the vehicle.

"My sleeping bag actually weighs a tonne. I'm not going to open it because it's going to be disgusting," he said.

By Rod Minchin, Press Association