A STOLEN car was dragged out of the Forty Foot Drain on Friday after being pushed into the river, police have said. The car was removed from the water by police and Spartan Rescue after a member of the public noticed that tyre marks led to the water, clos

A STOLEN car was dragged out of the Forty Foot Drain on Friday after being pushed into the river, police have said.

The car was removed from the water by police and Spartan Rescue after a member of the public noticed that tyre marks led to the water, close to Carter's Bridge.

A search of the Forty Foot established that the red Peugeot 406 had been empty when it entered the water. It was registered to an owner living in Hampshire.

The incident has reignited calls for safety measures on the Forty Foot Road between Ramsey and Chatteris where five people died in six weeks between December 21 last year and February 1 this year.

Chatteris father and son Dean Hawes, 27, and Jordan, seven, were travelling to collect Jordan's mother Michelle from work in

Huntingdon four days before Christmas when their car went into the river and they drowned.

In February, three Portuguese farm workers living in Peterborough went into the water at around 5am in the morning. Jose Marmeleria, 49, Carlos Condecco, 46, and Cidaline Oliveria, 57, from Peterborough were drowned. A fourth passenger, Jose's son, Miguel, 19, managed to swim to safety.

After a campaign launched by The Hunts Post, hundreds of our readers called for safety measures and highlighted other deaths going back to the 1980s and 1970s.

Cambridgeshire County Council is considering installing average speed cameras on the road.