Pelican 1, Bugatti 0

The last thing you would want to do if you had one of the 200 existing Bugatti Veyrons would be to suffer a tiny scratch, let alone drown it altogether in 3ft of salty water.

Unfortunately this is exactly what happened to Gilbert Harrison in La Marque, Texas.

The car enthusiast and collector got distracted by a pelican and drove his £1.25million pride and joy into a nearby lagoon, destroying its powerful engine, 16 cylinders and four turbo chargers in about 15 minutes.

The poor man has only himself to blame. Well, him and the pelican I guess. If you have something as nice as a Bugatti you shouldn't take your eyes off it, even if a flock of dodos was passing by: a) because it's so damn nice, b) because it's so damn expensive and c) because it's so damn rare.

Seriously, what was he thinking?

If you collect exotic cars you should at least make sure you're able to handle them otherwise, as Harrison demonstrated, you could be praying your insurance company has a very sympathetic attitude.

Watch the footage of the car plunging in the lake (warning: this video contains swearing)

And watch it being dragged out