BMW driver follows satnav to edge of cliff

West Yorkshire Italian Job reconstruction

By Lester Haines • Get more from this author

Posted in Bootnotes, 25th March 2009 12:06 GMT

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A Doncaster man is facing a "hefty recovery bill", and an appearance before the beak on a driving without due care and attention rap, after following his BMW's satnav to the edge of a West Yorkshire cliff, the Telegraph reports.

Robert Jones, 43, was driving in "broad daylight" on Sunday morning en route to visit some chums. In the village of Gauxholme, he was directed up a narrow footpath which led to a fence, beyond which were "stunning views across the Pennines".

Jones, likely didn't much enjoy the vistas, however, because he couldn't then reverse the car out, leaving it "hanging off the edge" of the precipice, as one police officer put it.

The AA refused to assist, and so Jones called police. They deployed heavy machinery to extract the motor - a nine-hour process which attracted a crowd of locals. One said: "It's like something from The Italian Job, but what a waste of police time. It's all very well and good trusting your satnav, but how about trusting your eyes?"

Jones explained: "It [the satnav] kept insisting the path was a road, even as it was getting narrower and steeper. I just trusted it. You don't expect to be taken nearly off a cliff.

"I rely on my satnav. I couldn't do without it for my job, and this is the first time anything like this has ever happened. I guess I'm just lucky the car didn't slip all the way over the edge but it's been a bit of a nightmare."

A police spokesman concluded: "Nobody was hurt, but when someone nearly drives off a cliff it shows a lack of care which needs to be investigated." ®

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