Tight-fisted driver risks his life driving across frozen Yellow River in China to avoid a 50p toll bridge

The driver was so determined to cross the Yellow River, in Ordos, China, for free that he drove straight onto the ice

It took him a whole ten minutes to cross the 1km-wide body of water before he drove up the bank on the other side


Nobody likes paying a toll fee to cross a river, but these days there's not much you can do but take a deep breath and pay up.

Not this skinflint driver in China. He was so determined to get out of paying the fee to cross the frozen Yellow River, in Ordos, Inner Mongolia, that he just drove straight onto the ice.

He negotiated the frozen body of water gingerly at first, but grew in confidence as he realised he would make the crossing - saving himself some 50p in the process.

Advancing on ice: The fearless driver negotiated the frozen body of water gingerly at first, but grew in confidence as he realised he might actually make the crossing - saving himself some 50p in the process

The ice is right: Onlookers watched in horror as the unidentified driver risked his life just to save pennies, gasping each time they heard the ice creak under the weight of the silver-coloured car

Onlookers watched in horror as the unidentified man risked his life just to save pennies, gasping each time they heard the ice creak under the weight of the silver-coloured car.



It took the curmudgeonly commuter a whole ten minutes to cross the 1km-wide body of water before revving his engine with satisfaction as he drove up the bank on the other side.

The nearest road crossing would have been the Jingsang Expressway which runs into the ghost city of Ordos. Tolls are common in China and are usually collected as one-off payments, of between 5 and ten yuan (50p to £1), or through a top-up card system charged on distance travelled between certain gates.



The 5,464-km-long Yellow River runs through nine Chinese provinces and two autonomous regions, emptying into the Bohai Sea, in Shandong Province in east China.

Nearly there! It took the curmudgeonly commuter a whole ten minutes to cross the 1km-wide body of water before revving his engine with satisfaction as he drove up the bank on the other side

The Yellow River originates in the Bayan Har Mountains and the Anemaqen Mountains and empties into the Bohai Sea drain into the Hai River.



It is also difficult to imagine from these pictures that at the early sections of the river the water runs crystal clear, flowing steadily and forming mirror-like lakes, including Lake Zhaling and Lake Eling, at the foot of the mountains.



Subsequently, the Mongolian name for the river in this section is the Black River.

