Woman pulled from car after ploughing into swollen river

The victim was swept down river in her car after ignoring warning signs and driving into a ford which is normally only inches deep.

However torrential rain had turned the river Loddon near Reading into a torrent and the water across the road was five feet deep.

These pictures, taken by a passer-by, show the moment the woman driver tentatively decided to risk crossing the ford at Charvil yesterday afternoon.

Moments later the car began to float and was swept away with the helpless driver clinging to the steering wheel and unable to prevent her fate.

The driver, in her forties, was trapped in the car with the water rapidly rising up to the windows.

Horrified onlookers could only watch as the fast moving current started to pull the Vauxhall Astra downstream.

The woman was eventually pulled head-first from the car by firefighters neck deep in water using specialist rescue equipment.