A TIMELY warning this school holidays for tourists and locals planning to take to the beach in their four-wheel drive.

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This car ended up well and truly ‘off road’ when the driver lost control in the soft sand just along from Bennetts Beach in Hawks Nest.

Neither of the two young men in the car was injured, but it was a number of days before the vehicle was able to be retrieved.

Local beach recovery expert Steve Webb from Tea Gardens Marine Mechanics was called late on Monday afternoon.

“They’d been driving too close to the water and when a wave came, they’ve veered to try and avoid it and rolled it,” Steve said.

“I was called and it wasn’t quite low tide and we would have lost the light, you really need an excavator in those circumstances.”

It took two days before Fenwick’s off road haulage dragged the Landcruiser from the water.

Local Darren Rapley is the town’s other beach recovery expert.

He says he tows an average of 40 cars out of the sand every year.

“The beach can get really soft especially towards the water,” Darren told News Of The Area.

“You’ve got to let your tyres down when driving on the sand.”

Steve Webb also warns, “Driving at speed when your tyres are low can make your car very unstable.”

It’s believed the Landcruiser belonged to a father of one of the young men.

The car is a ‘write-off’.

By Margie TIERNEY