A FOREST man has told how he saved his own life and the life of his girl friend after their car was swept off a flooded ford by a fierce current and had started to sink.
James Elsmore , 29, of Coleford, had driven to have Sunday lunch with Nicky Steddy, 30, and her parents at Bridgend, near Cardiff. She took him for a riverside drive in their Rover 400 four-door.
"It was to show me a ride she used to take with her horse and she said there were stepping stones and a ford – but what she didn't know was that the stones had been moved," said James.
"We came to where the ford should be and she said she didn't want to drive across so I said I would. But what we didn't realise was the ford was in a V-shaped funnel and when the car got to the middle the full force of the current – it was about three feet deep and very fast – spun the front around.
"Nicky shouted to put the handbrake on but before we knew it we were off the ford and in the river and the water was up to the windows with the car filling up.
"I shouted to Nicky to open her window and I opened mine so that the water could run through – any minute it was going to turn the car over.
"I managed to get out through the window and I pulled Nicky through too, and we dragged ourselves ashore.
"It was very scary. One thing I couldn't understand was that there was a family on the bank at the time and they didn't warn us how deep and fast the water was.
"Now I can appreciate how the people on the Titanic felt – but it wasn't until we thought about it afterwards that we realised how lucky we had been."
James, who is an export manager at Rank Xerox in Mitcheldean, met Nicky some eight months ago.
"We met at work. Nicky is the European manager for a distribution company and she came to see me about doing some work for Xerox."
The car was declared a write-off by salvage experts called to the scene by police.