FOR the second time this year a driver’s unscheduled stop to spend a penny at the Sandbanks Ferry has ended up costing much more.

The motorist, who dashed to the loo after parking up on the chain ferry slipway, returned to his Vauxhall Omega to witness it rolling into the sea.

Onlookers saw the shocked man, believed to be in his 30s, chase the car down the ramp in vain, only to watch it bob along a short while then sink under eight metres of salt water.

The incident, at 10.30am on Saturday, was attended by Poole’s RNLI all-weather lifeboat and coastguard officers.

Witnesses say the man was waiting to pick up his wife, who was travelling to Sandbanks on the ferry from the Studland side.

Sandbanks resident Richard Wickham, who witnessed the immediate aftermath, said: “The guy parked in the queue, had gone to the toilet and the car just rolled in.”

Thankfully, no-one else was in the vehicle at the time and the car was quickly recovered by the Poole Harbour dredger.

A Coastguard spokesman said: “Other boats had identified its position and the dredger was able to grab and retrieve it.

“Fortunately no-one was trapped. We don’t know if it was a problem with the car or an operating error, but the guy is obviously going to be in some inconvenience now.

“One feels sorry for him, but delighted there was no-one else in the car.”

In April, this year, Tony Hearn suffered a similar calamity to Saturday’s unknown driver.

Tony, 34, left his £9,000 Smart car on the slipway while he went to the toilet, and when he came back it was also rolling into the sea.

He said at the time: “My first thought was to leap in after it but then sanity kicked in.”