Vintage sports car ends up in Regent's Canal after being 'knocked by passing van'

Watery end: A Chesil 356 Speedster, a replica of the classic Porsche 356, floats in the Regent's Canal
PA
Tom Powell3 October 2018

A £30,000 vintage sports car has fallen into the Regent’s Canal in north London after being knocked by a passing van.

Rescuers were trying to retrieve the car, a blue replica of the classic Porsche 356, on Wednesday evening after it became submerged in the canal in Islington.

The vehicle had been parked outside AutoVero luxury and classic cars, whose owner Kalvin Cauldwell admitted “it could have been much worse”.

Mr Cauldwell said a "smashing noise" alerted him that something was wrong at about midday. It appears a delivery driver somehow made contact with the 2004 Chesil 356 Speedster which was in a car park at the back of the building.

Attempts are made to fish the vehicle out the canal in Islington
PA

He said: "It was knocked into the canal.

"It is an item of stock. It is now in the canal with lots of people scratching their heads thinking 'how are they going to get that out?'

The car was parked outside the AutoVero dealership
PA

"I was with a mechanic dealing with a Ferrari and I heard a smashing noise, then I was looking around and it was the canal.

"He managed to slide past a Mercedes that was there as well. It could have been much worse, definitely."

It is believed to have been knocked into the water by a passing delivery van
PA

Mr Cauldwell said he expects the car is a “total loss” and is now preparing to deal with insurers.

"I have never ever had a claim like this before and I doubt I will have one again,” he added.

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in