[an error occurred while processing this directive]
BBC News
watch One-Minute World News
Last Updated: Tuesday, 1 August 2006, 13:37 GMT 14:37 UK
Sat nav leaves cheese truck stuck
Attempts to move the lorry
Fresh attempts failed to move the lorry on Tuesday morning
A driver whose cheese lorry was stuck down a narrow farm track in a village has blamed his satellite navigation system for giving him wrong directions.

There was some damage to the roofs of two cottages as the Belgian driver drove through Drefelin, Carmarthenshire to pick up a consignment of cheese.

Despite six hours of attempting to recover the truck on Monday, it had remained trapped overnight.

Trees had to be cut back before the lorry was finally freed on Tuesday.

Efforts continued before the truck was finally reversed along a lane and back onto the main road.

One resident said the truck crushed a crash barrier outside his home and damaged a flowerbed belonging to an elderly neighbour on Monday evening.

It would have been obvious to most drivers that the track the driver turned onto wasn't a proper road
Homeowner Paul Davies

Homeowner Paul Davies said the Belgian truck driver had told him he had been following his satellite navigation system to Newcastle Emlyn.

The driver, called Michel, said the "little small street" had proved impossible to drive down with the lorry.

Work to recover the truck started on Monday evening but workers only managed to move it about 600 yards (548 metres) after six hours.

The driver of the high-sided refrigerated lorry had been travelling through the village of Drefelin, near Drefach-Felindre.

The lorry driver
Driver Michel said the narrow road had proved 'impossible'

Mr Davies, who claimed his home had been damaged by the lorry, said: "It would have been obvious to most drivers that the track the driver turned onto wasn't a proper road.

"The driver told me that he had been following his sat nav to Newcastle Emlyn, but it led him the wrong way."

He added: "As the lorry turned onto the track, it crushed a crash barrier outside my home and damaged some concrete below it."

Abandoned overnight

He said guttering and a border of bushes and plants belonging to an elderly neighbour were also damaged.

Police and recovery vehicles were called to the scene but attempts to recover the truck were abandoned overnight on Monday.

Dyfed-Powys Police said they received a call at 1842 BST about the truck. They said they also received reports it had collided with a few barriers, but they confirmed no-one was injured.

"The car is good, but for lorries, no"

Caravanners in fix blame sat-nav
12 Jun 06 |  North West Wales
Thieves steal ambulance sat nav
17 Jul 06 |  Manchester
Car navigation thefts rise 500%
24 Mar 06 |  Manchester

The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites

Has China's housing bubble burst?
How the world's oldest clove tree defied an empire
Why Royal Ballet principal Sergei Polunin quit


Americas Africa Europe Middle East South Asia Asia Pacific