Sat nav sends lorry into sticky situation down Shropshire lane
A lorry driver found himself in a sticky situation along a country lane – after being led there by his sat nav.
The vehicle he was driving, which was carrying a digger weighing around 25 tonnes, became stuck fast in the mud.
Residents, in Lawley, Telford were woken by the vehicle as it was delivering the giant digger to Coal UK.
The vehicle's sat nav directed the driver down a narrow road between Lawley and New Works in Telford, where it became stuck for around three hours.
Many of the residents said it was the biggest lorry they had ever seen.
John Russon, 51, from Lawley, who's fence was damaged by the vehicle, said he thought it was the bin lorry at first, but soon realised it was a lot noisier than normal.
"Unfortunately this happens a lot, because the hill is so steep. So in the winter when the leaves come down, cars think they can make it, and end up knocking the fence.
"But it's not just a slope going up, as it also slopes sideways, so the weight of the lorry and the digger together caused it to get stuck for about three hours.
"Even in the winter the road gritter vehicle cannot come down here because of the slope," he said.
"This is the worst its been but it happens fairly regularly, someone goes into the fence, because the road catches people out.
"It's quite a busy road so the incident caused a few people to turn around. But the lorry driver is no different to anybody else who has been through the fence in the past. But the cat wasn't impressed with the giant lorry though."
As well as the fence the lorry also caused minor damage to some of the trees in the lane.
Neither the police or fire service attended yesterday's drama.
But help was at hand, as employees from SP Holding Group, in Horsehay, rescued the lorry and the driver, who works for Allsop Ltd, based in Derby.
Dave Simpson, from SP Holding Group, said: "It took us about two minutes to get the lorry out after we were called. But this does happen quite a lot so it's not unusual. The winter doesn't help, if it was a sunny day though this probably wouldn't have happened."
The driver of the vehicle, who wishes to remain nameless, was believed to be a bit traumatised due to the incident.
He said: "The sat nav took me that way and I ended up getting stuck. There's leaves and mud all over the road so it didn't help the situation at all. But no one from UK Coal told me not to go that way."
It is the second time in a week that a sat nav has been blamed for lorries attempting to travel along roads that are unsuitable.
Sat-navs were today accused of bringing chaos and danger to Much Wenlock's historic town centre.
Residents in Much Wenlock say are also fed up with huge lorries attempting to navigate through the centre of the town, often knocking into buildings and signs as they go.
In the latest incident, a cement lorry struck part of an upstairs bay window out of a building in Wilmore Street.
