As anyone who has owned a car knows, it’s not easy owning one.
Whether it’s a used car or a luxury supercar, it cost a decent amount of money to acquire and an equally decent amount to maintain. And that’s why you can only applaud the calm attitude this BMW owner displayed when his car was swept down the Thames:
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Video credit: Rumble
Following some heavy rain, a freak tidal surge picked up James Roycroft-Davis’ BMW and swept it down the Thames River as he watched helplessly from the side. His only comment was that ‘the only thing you can do is laugh.’
The 25-year-old was in Putney, southwest London, on the afternoon of February 12 to visit his girlfriend. He chose a low-lying ramp at the edge of the embankment and parked there at roughly 2 pm. But he found his BMW Z4 missing when he came back 2 hours later.
He recalled: ‘When I came back it was high tide, a couple of blokes were laughing, saying, “See that car floating down the Thames”, and I went, “oh wait that’s my car.”
‘There was not much we could do. We thought, let’s see where it sinks. It sank about 50 meters away.
‘We had to wait until about 11 pm when it was low tide to try and retrieve it.
‘It is a total write-off. We are hoping the insurers will pay out but we doubt they will.’
The businessman continued: ‘I’m trying to cope with the idea that I’ve just lost upwards of £5,000($6,500).
‘In a way, the only thing you can do is laugh.
‘There has been a lot of people taking pictures as it floated down the river. It is quite funny.’
Putney residents are already familiar with how much a ‘cruel mistress’ the Thames can be. One local had even started a Facebook page that posts hapless vehicles that have been swept away.
Chris Morahan, the founder of the Putney Hide Tide Club, said: ‘I founded this page to show the hilarious examples of cars being washed away.
‘Only the locals of Putney understand what a cruel mistress the Thames can be. This is a way to laugh at other Londoners’ misfortunes.’
Replaced!