Warning signs ahead for sat-nav

A village in Wales has become the first place in the UK to put up signs warning drivers that their satellite navigation systems may be sending them down the wrong road.

Authorities in St Hilary, in the Vale of Glamorgan, have erected signs telling drivers that the proposed shortcut between Cardiff Airport and the M4 may be too narrow for their vehicles.

The move comes after more than a dozen lorry drivers became stuck on the route in the past six months.

Traffic engineer Mark Simpson, who devised the signs, said that sat-nav can be a wonderful tool for drivers, but that it had its dangers.

"We have had a series of problems with drivers getting into trouble by trusting their sat-nav and we needed to do something about it," he said.

"Sat-nav devices can send drivers on the most direct routes that turn out to be narrow roads completely unsuitable for heavy and long trucks and lorries."

Four signs have been erected in the sat-nav black spot in the village to warn heavy goods vehicle drivers against taking the short cut. If the scheme in South Wales is successful it could be rolled out across the UK.

Sat-nav systems have been praised for making car travel greener by reducing journeys by around seven per cent, and have led to some companies cutting insurance premiums.

However, the systems have also led several drivers astray. A German man got his car stuck on tramlines after following his sat-nav, while a driver faced a 100ft drop in the North Yorkshire town of Crackpot.