POLICE are on the hunt for a runaway driver after the motorist seemingly drove down an embankment and abandoned their car on a railway track.
The dopey driver, who remains at large, appears to have managed to take their car off-road and accessed the tracks at Carbis Bay, Cornwall on Saturay night.
The vehicle – a black Mercedes – was abandoned just shy of the station platform in the sleepy English village, resulting in delays and cancellations throughout the following day.
Images show the car pictured just a couple of hundred feet from the platform, which lies on the other side of a tunnel behind the vehicle.
The car takes up over half of the narrow line, with two wheels on the railway sleepers and another two hanging over onto the gravel to the side of the rail.
Devon and Cornwall’s Roadside Policing Team discovered the vehicle on the Saturday night, and took to social media on the Sunday to update the public.
They wrote: “Tickets please! The driver of this vehicle ended up obstructing rail tracks at Carbis Bay having left the road and down an embankment.
“Unfortunately they didn’t hang around to help us with enquiries. Enquiries ongoing.”
The post has gained dozens of likes and comments from users who were left to theorise the reasons behind the vehicle’s abandonment.
One user said: “Was a SatNav involved in this?”
Another joked: “I’m here to say ‘you can’t park there mate’.”
A third punned: “It is a nice track to see, St Ives – preferably by train though.”
Another quipped: “Back to the Future re-enactment.”
A fifth commented: “Let’s hope the driver/keeper is made to pay for delays caused to rail passengers and train companies…just like truckers should who bash into low bridges.”
Speaking today, a spokesman for Devon and Cornwall Police said: “Police were called at 11:20pm on Saturday 21 January with reports of a Mercedes car having been left abandoned on the railway lines near Carbis Bay.
“Officers attended and localised searches with support from the Drone Unit took place to find the occupants of the vehicle, but this was unsuccessful.
“This matter has since been passed over to Network Rail to arrange removal of the vehicle and British Transport Police in relation to any follow-up policing matters.”
The St Ives Bay Line – where the vehicle was abandoned – runs from St Erth to St Ives, stopping at Leiant and Carbs Bay along the way.
The line is 4.25 miles long and has served communities in Cornwall for over 140 years, having first opened in 1877.
