IN response to your coverage of the incident of the car sliding into the Ouse at South Esplanade (December 23, pictured right), it was interesting observing the glee which greeted the announcement that the car was a Jaguar, and could have cost up to £70,000.

This especially from one of your readers who seemed to be exercising his schadenfreude muscle to the point of leaving the driver in the water (December 29).

Two points must be made here, though. The driver must be saving his copies of the Press for his insurance claim because the car was not in fact a "£70,000 Jaguar XJS", but an 11-year-old XJ6, worth - before it got wet - about £1,500 at best.

Secondly, this should be a lesson to all who buy flashy "prestige" cars. Everyone laughs at you behind your back! As an observer quipped, "bottom o' t'Ouse is best place forrit!"

Andy Scaife,

Suffolk House,

Lowther Terrace, York.

Updated: 10:44 Wednesday, December 31, 2003