A hero taxi driver has told how he defied repeated warnings for his safety in order to save a young driver trapped upside down in the water.
Father-of-one James Brown was driving along an icy country road when he noticed the headlights of a silver Ford Ka sinking in the village pond at Bishop Burton in East Yorkshire.
Mr Brown, from Beverley, phoned 999 and was told repeatedly not to go into the freezing pond.
But when the 41-year-old realised someone was inside the car, he ignored the warnings and waded in.
"The controller kept saying 'Please, please don't go into the pond' but there was a car on its roof and it was sinking," Mr Brown said. "I put the phone down and went in.
She was very shaken up, as you might imagine. She had been upside down in a sinking car and could not get out. It was pitch black and the car was filling with water.
Rescuer James Brown
"It was sinking down and filling with water. Half the car was underwater already and I could hear someone screaming and banging on the window.
"I shouted to her and she said she was the only one in the car," he said. "I was just so relieved she was talking to me."
Mr Brown, who has been driving taxis for six years, said he flagged down another passing driver who had a hammer in his car.
He grabbed the hammer and went back into the water to smash the half-submerged vehicle's window.
He eventually managed to smash the window and drag out the terrified 18-year-old.
Mr Brown said he sat the woman in his car until she was taken to hospital for treatment.
"She was very shaken up, as you might imagine. She had been upside down in a sinking car and could not get out. It was pitch black and the car was filling with water."
Mr Brown, who has a nine-year-old son, said he first noticed the incident when he saw debris strewn across the road from the fence surrounding the village pond.
