A Coastguard Rescue Team and RNLI lifeguards were called to a north Cornwall beach yesterday evening to check on the safety of a van driver - after an ice-cream van was dramatically swept out to sea by rough waves. The vehicle was dragged out at high tide yesterday afternoon (Sunday, July 7), and quickly filled with seawater as waves broke over it.

Crowds of people even rushed into the sea, wading waist-deep into the water at Harlyn Bay, near Padstow, in efforts to stop the ice-cream van from being washed away completely. And as a result, the Coastguard and lifeguards were called, and confirmed they attended the scene in order to check on those involved.

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“The driver was safe and well and not in the vehicle. The owner arranged a recovery vehicle which recovered the van at around 9:45pm when tide receded enough for it to be safe to do so. Coastguard rescue officers left once the vehicle was recovered and in a safe location.”

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One eyewitness reported that the driver of the van left the scene, leaving their van to be swept out to sea. Footage captured from the beach shows the ice cream van being thrown around the bay, with huge waves flooding the inside of the van and crashing over the freezers inside.