A 40ft articulated lorry became wedged down a narrow country lane – after following directions from a sat nav.
The Maxi haulage lorry was travelling down the lane in Halton, near Chirk, even though the road is signed as unsuitable for heavy goods vehicles.
Check out our photo gallery and read TODAY’S UPDATE on the story.
Rescue teams were called out to winch the vehicle out. Lawrence Griffiths, of recovery group L&D Bros, was yesterday called to pull the vehicle out but he said they had to stop when darkness set in.
He said: “We got it out about five times but we got to a different part of the road and the road subsided and the lorry slipped sideways. The council is coming out this morning.”
He added they expected to be there for most of the day again today.
“It is a long, slow, laborious job. We are taking it slowly, a bit at a time,” he said.
Residents who live and work in the area are up in arms, saying it has become a regular occurrence.
They claim that in the past three or four years lorries have continually tried to drive down the lane, choosing to ignore a road sign and relying on their sat navs
Margaret and John Evans, who run two farms either side of where the lorry got stuck, said it is inconvenient because it is a busy lane for the tractors.
Mr Evans added: “I have lived here all my life and people in cars are frightened to come down here, never mind lorries. It is not a road for this sort of thing.”
Son Richard Evans said they regularly have to turn lorries back.
He said: “This is the furthest anyone has got. This is the worst ever.”
Gerry Atkinson, chairman of the Maxi Group, said they don’t supply sat navs in their trucks because they are not suitable for HGVs in this country.
But he added: “The driver had his own sat nav. He claims it sent him down there.”
He said the driver should have been travelling on the A5.
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33 Comments
I think Sat Navs should have a separate setting for lorry drivers so they can use a suitable route.
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let’s ban these drivers who can’t follow basic road signs from using sat navs.
the driver saying the sat nav sent him down an unsuitable road is a load of rubbish what ever happen to common sense?
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He should be done for driving without due care and attention..
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Prat nav strikes YET AGAIN!!
I hope the driver and/or his company are going to be fined for this. It’s reckless driving.
I am getting sick and tired of these endless stories about idiot drivers using prat nav instead of their own (supposedly existing) common sense.
What’s wrong with using a map? Or following road signs? Idiots.
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thats what happens when u buy cheap sat navs. a little more cost goes a long way!!
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It’s bad enough when HGVs use minor A roads and B roads as short cuts and rat runs, but this is ridiculous.
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Sat nav got him stuck? Nope, he got himself stuck!
Any lorry driver who cannot grasp that Sat navs were not designed to cater for vehicles larger than cars or small vans should question whether he has the intelligence to hold a licence in the first place.
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Oh god, not ANOTHER?! How about this for a proposal: Ban sat navs (although that goes without saying really) and make map and sign reading part of the driving test. If you need a sat nav, in my opinion, you shouldn’t be driving at all.
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If we followed neils suggestion how would women cope with reading a map?
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He needs to get his eyes looked at I have ridden down that lane a 100 times on a horse and its not a road for cars no mind lorrys Its muddy with pot holes a farm yard country lane. He should be fined and the money used to repair the damage he has caused.
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If you look at the last Pic to the left is a big field that drops down to the river a few more inches and the lorry would of rolled down the steep hill and the lorry is full of chip board MADNESS
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the sat nav wasn’t at fault it was the person using it .I am sure the sat nav didnt tell him to ignore the road signs.
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Isn’t it about time we had some decent roads?
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nice lorry
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All in aggreement!
About time the rules were tightened up.
That driver should be made to pay for the efforts of those called on to recover him.
No doubt he will claim not to understand English.
Thanks Dave, I like the term “PratNav”.
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Satnavs don’t make it ok to ignore road signs!
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A more accurate title for this piece would surely have read “Lack of common sense by driver gets 40 foot lorry stuck” if that was too much type then perhaps the first five words could be abbreviated by the word “Stupid”!!
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How dumb to blame sat nav for these problems. Anyone saying these driving aids should be banned clearly doesnt use/need/understand them, and should have the sense not to coment on things they have no knowledge of.
Satnav is an invaluable aid to drivers on business. I program it, and it takes me to a destination I have never been to before. It gives me clear verbal instructions, allowing me to follow the correct route without having to take my eyes off the road. It is safe and reliable.
The fault in this story is all with the lorry driver. I am sick of following big lorries down tiny country lanes where they shouldnt be. They are constantly looking for short cuts to save themselves a bit of time, regardless of the inconvenience they cause to everyone else. They know they shouldnt be on these roads, but they also know the chances of them meeting a police car are zero, so they flout the law.
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The grass down the middle of the lane should of given him the clue that he had gone the wrong way!!!!!
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Although I use a Sat Nav in my car its not the be all and end all you do have to be careful and do not follow it blindly.
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Jake, old chap, why do you think HGVs travel? To deliver goods.
Do they deliver goods on motoways? Well, no, they do not. They have to deliver goods to shops, factories, warehouses, etc.
And where are these premises found? On motorways? No. On A and B roads.
So HGV drivers have to use A and B roads after they have left a motorway.
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You will soon be able to Buy a Sat Nav specifically designed for trucks to avoid this sort of incident. It will be available from Volvo Truck Dealers supplied by Roadcrew Solutions – Available mid-March
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I read in last nights Star that Sat-navs are not suitable for HGVs. Although I still think they should have a separate setting You should still use common sense. I remember one driver who went the wrong way up a dual carrigeway after following a sat-nav!
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What can you say!! Male Drivers!!
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Ref. C Youens comment: thankfully the driver isn’t black, gay and Jewish else you could have further humiliated yourself with your prejudice.
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Totally sexist comment C Youens. The Shropshire Star should remove it, and you should think before you post.
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They can be set to avoid narrow roads.
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I’ve heard Halfords have started stocking “chav-nav” systems. They have a limited search facility though; they can only find McDonalds drive-thru’s and supermarket car parks ;-)
Seriously though, unless one spends all their time driving in urban areas, I’ve never seen the facination with these systems.
Earlier this week, myself and my contracts manager had a site meeting for a new project near Aylesbury. I went on to Multimap, and wrote some directions on a post-it note. He typed the postcode into his sat-nav. I turned up five minutes late due to traffic, he turned up an hour late through getting lost via his sat-nav instructions.
I’ve driven to Italy twice using nothing more than 2 sheets of directions on A4 paper, written using a European road atlas. Easy.
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I work for MAXI! The comments made by most previous people are obviously by those not driving large vehicles transporting YOUR goods, to YOUR Supermarkets etc, in the quickest time expected by the client!(Giving YOU the cheapest price available) Failure to do so results in loss of the contract! The stress imposed upon our HGV drivers is immense, we dont all drive little 6ft sports cars or 4×4s to drop of kids at school!
YES the driver was wrong – arent you ever?
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Matt – well said mate, half of the idiots making these comments can’t drive themselves round the bend, let alone a massive vehicle like this! (lets get them all to have to drive 30 miles or so, in order to do their shopping!)
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In reply to David Jones -(I wonder if he’s Welsh?), look up the definition of the word ‘Logistics’, (preferably in an English Dictionary) – I think the answer, of getting goods from A to B, as quickly, viably and with the most cost effective means (Sorry! – am I confusing you?) IS the requisite of ALL (not most) clients that require deliveries of heavy goods!
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Spindrift – I am impressed by your honesty in admitting that you drive a vehicle while reading directions you have written on paper. I think the police term this as ‘driving without due care and attention’, the same as reading a road map which another irresponsible motorist recommended.
If you are driving any sort of distance on unfamiliar roads without a passenger to assist, then in this day and age sat nav is the ONLY safe way unless you want to spend hours constantly pulling over and stopping.
As for the lorry drivers who are now posting trying to justify their presence on roads they legally should not be on, by telling us they are doing it for us!!!! you’re only kidding yourselves.
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I agree with Jeff. Blaming satnav for that is about as daft as the time a woman claimed she hit another car because sat nav told her to turn right and when she stopped it told her again! Obviously these people are using satnav in place of glasses!
Amazing!
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