Glenn Hockey, 24, and his partner Megan Downes, 18, with 8-month-old Alexa Downes. The couple had to make a hasty exit with the baby from their Ford Escort at L’Eree on Monday night as a damaged wall on the coast road brought waves crashing around the vehicle. (Picture by Adrian Miller, 0549823)

A COUPLE told yesterday how their broken-down car filled with water as the sea crashed over the L’Eree coast road.

Glenn Hockey and Megan Downes pulled Miss Downes’ eight-month-old daughter, Alexa, from the back of the Ford Escort as Monday night’s stormed lashed the area on the high-spring tide.
Miss Downes, 18, said they had heeded a police warning not to drive along the coast road from The Imperial Hotel towards their home further up the coast and to try to reach it from the other end.

They turned inland and drove down Route des Adams to L’Eree Hotel, where they spoke to someone whom they thought to be a civil protection volunteer. ‘We needed to get the baby’s things and he told us we could get through, but to go carefully as water and debris were coming over the wall,’ said Miss Downes.

Waves were crashing over so heavily that the couple could not see the deeper water ahead and the car’s engine eventually stopped.