Sting in crash tale

I HAD ALL THE WINDOWS DOWN AND EVEN THE ROOF OPEN – AND A WASP FLEW IN. BEFORE I KNEW IT I WAS PULLING MYSELF OUT OF THE WATER. DRIVER OF CRASHED CAR

A MAN trying to avoid a wasp sting while driving his Mercedes has instead found himself submerged in a Southport canal.

The man, who declined to be named, said he was allergic to wasps and “s***” himself when he realised one of the winged insects had flown into his Mercedes S Class car yesterday afternoon.

In a panicked bid to get away from the wasp, he jumped the kerb on Cotlew St and went down the steep embankment, plunging into the water. “I s*** myself,” he said. “I got a big splash of water in my face, that’s the first I knew about it. I was just driving to the pub to pick up a few beers. I had all the windows down and even the roof open – and a wasp flew in.

“Before I knew it I was pulling myself out of the water.”

The man, aged in his 40s, said he was amazed he didn’t hit one of the bordering trees or people who used the footpath.

The Southport resident managed to get out of the car and swam about 10 metres to shore before walking himself home and getting into dry clothes.

“I was drenched,” he said, adding he was uninjured and there was no one else in the car at the time.

“Literally, I blinked and it was chaos.”

While the car seemed buoy- ant to begin with, he said by the time he returned to collect the car, it had disappeared from sight.

His partner, who was not on scene at the time, said he was lucky he was alright and that their two children were not in the car at the time of the incident.

“Cars are replaceable, people aren’t,” she said.

Police breathalysed the man after the incident but no charges are expected to be laid.