The new Oxford-made Mini has travelled 20 metres underground to recreate a scene from the cult film The Italian Job.

Yorkshire Water has decided to use the car in a project dubbed "The Hull Job" to promote its new £200m sewerage scheme.

Mark Bostock, left, and Russell Barrett, from Paragon Mini, drive the new BMW Mini along the Hull sewer

The BMW-built Mini - which is built at Cowley and is in demand all over the world - adapted well to its new surroundings under the streets of Hull.

And it is believed to be the first time in 32 years that a Mini has performed such a stunt, the last being under Coventry for the classic film starring Sir Michael Caine.

Yorkshire Water project manager Steve Tindall said: "We are now putting the finishing touches to the tunnel and wanted to mark its completion by doing something that was not only unusual, but something really memorable.

"We have a new tunnel and a new Mini, so we thought 'why not?'"

Specialist lifting gear was brought in to help manoeuvre the car into place ready for the drive, which took place on Tuesday.

Mr Tindall, who drove the Mini during the tunnel trip, added: "Probably the last time a Mini was driven through a sewer was for the film.

"And to quote Michael Caine in the film: 'It's a very difficult job and the only way to get through it is we all work together as a team - and that means you do everything as I say'."

The tunnel forms part of the £200m HumberCare sewerage scheme which will be completed later this year.

It runs alongside the Humber estuary and was built using two giant 230-tonne Canadian-built tunnelling machines named Maureen and Gloria.

In 1998, the pair of machines started cutting their way through thousands of tonnes of earth to construct the tunnel, which is 3.6 metres in diameter.