ENVIRONMENTAL charity Clean Ocean Sailing is enlisting a group of women rugby players to help remove a slowly degrading abandoned van on Polpeor Cove at Lizard Point.

The mangled vehicle was left at the bottom of the Cove’s slipway after being swamped for over two months. The charity, who’s objective is to take action to help protect the sea, had become increasingly worried about the environmental impact the Mercedes van was having and still imposes.

Volunteers who visited Polpeor last week started removing all the loose parts that were polluting the habitat around it, with pieces of metal, chunks of plastic and many other parts being safely recovered.

The team spent three day emptying the van which was partially buried and filled with rocks, sand and seaweed. They removed the roof, back doors, seats, interior trim and anything else they could dismantle from the wreck.

The charity used its faithful old VW campervan named Cecil to try and tow the vehicle away but to no avail as it wasn’t powerful enough.

A plan is currently being formed to remove the main body of the van from the site, with volunteer and former rugby player Kate Green saying that 30 women rugby players from the Cornish Pirates are on ‘standby’ to help the charity before the vancauses any further damage.

The Pirates players have already been practicing for the occasion after they took part in an exercise to pull Cecil the campervan at a recent women’s cup tournament in Penryn. The players and charity volunteers will be working to prepare a strategy on how to remove the van as safely as possible.