A SINKING van in the river will have to be removed by the owner, the environment agency has said.

The large white van plummeted into the river near Folly Bridge in the early hours of Saturday morning after pulling off Thames Street, racing through a small residential car park and then smashing into a concrete bollard.

The driver, who was probably experiencing a medical episode at the time, had to be rescued from the van by a riverside resident who heard the commotion at about 2am.

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Read more about the hero that saved him.

Police and specialist divers also arrived at the scene to check everything was okay – but the van is still in the water.

Now the environment agency have warned that it needs to be removed from the water as soon as possible.

A spokesman for the government department said: “It is the van owner’s responsibility to remove it, and we are working with them and their insurers to ensure this happens are the earliest opportunity.”

Meanwhile part of the river has been closed and warnings to other boat drivers have been propped up around the river.

The spokesman said: “We made an initial assessment and decided that the van posed a low risk of pollution and a low flood risk. It did present a hazard to boats."

“To ensure boaters’ safety we have temporarily closed the river in that location until the van is removed and issues a Harbour Master’s Notice advising boaters of this.

“We have also marked the location of the van with buoys.”