An unwary driver drove her her car into a precarious position yesterday morning, tipping the vehicle over an unmarked ledge in the Par-La-Ville parking lot in Hamilton.

But according to a car cleaner who has worked in the area for several years, yesterday's driver was not the first person to have mistakenly driven over the two-foot ledge ? by his count she was the 35th person, said cleaner Allen Dill.

"It's happened enough through the year," said Mr. Dill.

He has been helping people to ease their cars off the ledge for years, he added.

"I have two planks which I would pull out any time someone did it, and we would drive the car down them. We only just started calling the Corporation of Hamilton when it happens and they bring in a fork lift."

Mr. Dill's wife, who also cleans in the lot, said she too has seen several drivers go over the edge, including a mother with her small children.

"Luckily they had their seatbelts on," she said.

The ledge in question is located on the Southern end of the parking lot where a parking area is elevated above a thoroughfare leading from the lot's Church Street entrance.

According to Mr. Dill, many drivers who are attempting to back into either of the two parking spots directly adjacent to the ledge, misjudge the distance and wind up driving over it.

"Sometimes people are so busy looking for a parking spot, they don't realise the road ends at the edge and just drive over it," Mr. Dill said.

"It never causes any serious damage," he added.

Corporation of Hamilton workers had to be called in to rescue the vehicle. Workers lifted the car off the ledge using a fork lift.

Mr. Dill said yesterday's driver "just started her engine and drove off" after her car was lifted off the edge.

Kelly Miller, Acting Secretary of the Corporation of Hamilton, said yesterday that the Corporation was committed to rectifying the situation with some form of marker or barrier.

But, she said as far as she knew, there had been few complaints made to the Corporation concerning similar incidents.

"Clearly we need to put some sort of barrier up, but the issue is now one for the city's engineer to find the best way to make sure this doesn't happen again." she said.

"Our most important consideration is that the driver wasn't hurt," she said, adding that the driver had come to the Corporation of Hamilton with a request for help that morning, to which the Corporation quickly came to her aid with one of their fork lifts.

"But I have no knowledge of any incidents like this happening before," she added.