Recovery operators were having to unload 28 tonnes of timber today in an attempt to release a 40ft articulated lorry which remains wedged down a narrow country lane on the Shropshire border.

L&D Bros of Wrexham have been trying in vain to release the heavy goods vehicle from the lane in Halton, near Chirk since Wednesday morning.

The driver had taken a wrong turn and got the truck wedged down the lane after following directions from his sat nav. 

Lawrence Griffiths, of L&D Bros, said six members of staff from Maxi Haulage, the company that owns the truck, began unloading it yesterday afternoon.

“They are unloading it all by hand. We have put a vehicle on the winch to lower it down to it to load it up, and are winching it back to the top and taking it from there.”

Their attempts to winch the articulated lorry out took a turn for the worse when part of the road began to subside.

He said: “The council have been here and will come back to reassess it after the job is done.”

He added: “It’s a very difficult job. It is time consuming more than anything now.”

Gerry Atkinson, chairman of the Maxi Group, said it didn’t supply sat navs in its trucks, but the driver had his own and claims it sent him down the lane.

Margaret and John Evans and their son Richard run farms on either side of where the truck has got stuck.

They said they frequently have to stop HGVs attempting to go down the lane after following sat navs, despite a sign clearly stating that the road is “unsuitable for heavy goods vehicles”.