A van driver got caught out by an extra-high tide, leaving him stranded 100 metres from the shore in north Norfolk. 

He set out from the village of Thornham to visit an address on the marshes, but the fast-moving tide rapidly covered the access road. 

The driver sought refuge on one remaining piece of dry land next to a barn. He had to stay there for several hours before the tide ebbed away enough for the driver to make it back to the mainland. 

Paul Stearman, a local photographer, said: “It is easily done if people don’t know the area and are not familiar with the tides. 

“They have been exceptionally high of late and it may look safe and dry on the access roads, but it doesn’t take long for the very high tide to cut parts of the marshes off from the mainland.”