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5 Unbelievable Sat Nav Mishaps

  • Robber’s Mistake: Bank robbers caught due to sat nav saved addresses.
  • Mountain Detour: Swiss driver’s sat nav led him atop a mountain, needing airlift.
  • Wrong Gibraltar: Lorry driver confused Gibraltar, Spain with Lincolnshire’s Gibraltar Point.
  • Sat Nav Errors: Incidents include driving on train tracks and cul-de-sac chaos.

Satellite navigation directions on smartphone

These days, we’re very trusting of technology – perhaps a little too trusting. When it comes to sat navs, we tend to put our complete faith in their directions. And sometimes that leads to some pretty unbelievable mishaps. 

So, let’s take a look at some of the strangest, most humorous sat nav blunders ever recorded. 

You’re nicked

A police department couldn’t believe their luck when a gang of notorious bank robbers were brought to justice because, wait for it, they had saved the addresses of multiple banks in their sat nav’s places of interest. The sat nav was also used to track where the gang had been before, linking them to other crime scenes, making this an unusual, but incredibly helpful, sat nav fail. 

Mountain mayhem

A Swiss van driver took in some unexpected views when he followed his sat nav along a narrow footpath to the top of a mountain near Bergen, Switzerland. Thankfully, he stopped the vehicle before going over the edge, avoiding a complete leap of faith. Unfortunately, there was absolutely no room to turn the van around, meaning he and his vehicle had to be airlifted from the top of the mountain! 

An unexpected trip to a nature reserve

There’s a big difference between Gibraltar and Lincolnshire, as one Syrian lorry driver found out. Mr. Bakimci had been aiming for Gibraltar, Spain, but ended up at a Lincolnshire nature reserve, confusingly named Gibraltar Point. While the area makes for a lovely day out, it was unfortunately hundreds of miles away from the driver’s intended destination! That’s one detour he won’t forget in a while. 

A trip down the tracks

We’re all told not to walk on train tracks – but nobody said anything about driving on them, right? A Fiesta driver followed his sat nav’s instructions without question, finding himself driving 20 feet down a train track! Thankfully, the driver was rescued safely despite putting too much confidence in his navigation technology. 

A trail of destruction

A Belgian truck driver was left with a lot of explaining to do when he followed a sat nav’s instructions into a tiny little cul-de-sac. The problem? He was driving a 30-tonne truck. The driver’s attempts to turn around resulted in a destroyed mini roundabout, a car wedged under his vehicle, and the obliteration of five other cars when, in a panic, he hit the accelerator instead of the brake. This just goes to show that sat nav blunders alone aren’t the only thing that can cause problems – how somebody reacts to them can impact the situation. 

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