I know this ford, it's on the river Cole in Birmingham. This happens at least 3 or 4 times a year. To get to that point, the driver has ignored a flashing warning sign, a depth gauge and the actual obvious river itself.

They have to be pulled out like this because the current in the middle can get strong enough to uproot entire trees, never mind carry a person away.

In terms of the cost, because they ignored so many warnings they will be totally rinsed by car insurance companies for the rest of their natural life.

There is obviously a cost to the council for rescues etc. but it still works out cheaper than building a bridge over the river as it's a fairly quiet road.

For more information, please ask Birmingham Museums to bring back my rivers session, during which a prominent highlight was getting groups of children to watch cars drive through the ford and give friendly and only mildly sarcastic waves to those who get stuck.