A DERELICT car abandoned for weeks in Worcester's Arboretum area has been dumped in the canal by vandals.

The Citroen was spotted half-submerged in the Worcester to Birmingham Canal by a resident, who then alerted a neighbour, Connie Davis .

Mrs Davis informed Worcester police of the car before mounting a midnight vigil to ensure the entire vehicle was not plunged in.

"It's a well-loved canal and we all try and look after it. Then we have idiots that go and do something like this," said the 51-year-old.

"The car had been abandoned in Barry Street a few weeks previously.

"The council had put one of its notices of intent to remove the car on it, but then it was pushed halfway into the canal at the end of Barry Street."

After checking to see if there was anyone inside, Mrs Davis called the police, who told her it was not their responsibility to remove the vehicle.

"The police said it was a council matter and called the council on an emergency out-of-hours number," she added.

"But when they got through, they were advised by an answering machine to call back during office hours.

"We have already had a car dumped in the canal near to us a few months ago.

"I thought it best to try and get the car removed before too much damage to the wildlife and the narrowboat users was caused."

British Waterways hauled the car out around two hours later and left it on the roadside with two tyres removed to prevent it happening again.

Mrs Davis is now calling for another bollard to be installed to prevent a repeat of the incident.

A spokesman for British Waterways confirmed that the car was retrieved but that the area had not yet been inspected to make a decision on adding another bollard.

No one at the city council was available for comment as the Evening News went to press.