Moment crowd rushes to rescue van stranded on Cornwall beach during high tide

This is the moment a crowd rushed to save a van dumped on the beach during a high tide as waves crashed around them.

A group of men came to the rescue of the white van parked in the sand yesterday at around 6.30pm on Polzeath beach in Cornwall.

One video taken by an onlooker shows the vehicle right on the shoreline as people surrounded the vehicle, attempting to push it away from the water.

A man who captured the bizarre incident told Whats the Jam?: My partner and I had just gone down to the beach for a quick drink and noticed a big crowd on the beach where people had gathered around.

So we looked over and there were people trying to dig out not only the van but another car, too.

Locals had to rescue the white van dumped on the Polzeath beach 

Around a dozen onlookers surrounded the van and tried to help move it out of the water 

Others raced to try and move a car which had also parked in an unfortunate position

 In the end, there was a group of about 15 people pushing the van back onto the sand.

We were just shocked to see people still falling for parking that close to the sea when the tide is coming in.

By the end, the van was freed.

The incident is the latest in a series of similar incidents of cars getting stuck in the sand in Cornwall.

Similarly last year, a driver dumped their £25,000 Mercedes GLe SUV in the sand on Newquay beach.

The accident was discovered by a dog walker early on the morning of July 26 at around 5am who noticed with amusement that a roads narrow on left ahead sign had been placed next to the stricken vehicle.

The stricken Mercedes SUV caused much amusement to locals in Newquay after a tourist mistook the beach for free parking

Three cars previously had to be pulled out of the water in Newquay last year 

She told local paper The Packet that she had also discovered the embarrassed owner and directed him to the nearest garage.

Another incident in Newquay saw Connor Duffy, 33, a chef from the town, baffled after spotting three idiot tourists parking their vehicles by the water.