Luckily it emerged no-one had been in the car, believed to have been stolen, at the time it entered the river.

The alarm was raised just after 2.30pm on Friday when a member of the public saw tyre marks leading from the road into the river off the bank near to Carter's Bridge.

There have been five deaths on the road in recent months – including a father and son – and there are now renewed calls for action to make it safer.

Police attended Friday's incident and the Cambs force helicopter was deployed to carry out an aerial search of the area.

The crew identified a red vehicle submerged in the water and rescue teams with specialist camera equipment began checking to see if anyone had been trapped inside.

The road was closed for some time with traffic diverted via Benwick while the safe recovery of the vehicle took place.

It was in May when the Citizen reported special speed cameras and more driver education were two possible solutions being looked at for the bank which has been of concern to local people for some time.

The Citizen launched a campaign backing calls for safety improvements and helped present a petition in February, calling on Cambs County Council to do something about the road.

In June, coroner William Morris backed calls for action after hearing inquests into those who had died in two separate incidents – Chatteris dad Dean Hawes and his seven-year-old son Jordan, and Jose Marmeleira, Cidalina Oliveira and Carlos Condeco.

A county spokesman said yesterday a scheme for safety cameras at the Forty Foot had been put forward with several other ideas.

A decision on which schemes to pursue is expected in December. The spokesman added the county would also be rolling out a driver education programme specifically for roads near Fenland drains in the next couple of months.

Concerning the latest incident, police are keen to hear from anyone who might have seen the car enter the water or who may have other information that might help their investigation.

They would like anyone with information to contact them on 0845-456-4564.

Meanwhile seven people were involved in a two-vehicle accident at Carter's Bridge, near the Doddington Road junction with the Forty Foot, around tea-time on Monday.

Six people had got out and fire crews from Chatteris and a rescue vehicle from Huntingdon released one other person at the scene.

Two of those involved were taken to hospital though the extent of their injuries are not known.