10 Sat-Nav Disasters

Satellite navigation systems have revolutionised driving over the past decade or so, saving us time and fuel - and a whole lot of arguments with backseat drivers and map-readers too! But sometimes things can go wrong. Very wrong. Here are some of the worst sat-nav mishaps from around the globe - and some advice on how you can avoid them.

• Cars and water don't mix, as a driver in Glubczyce, Poland, found out. He doggedly followed the instructions of his sat-nav - ignoring the road signs telling him that the road ahead was closed - and drove straight into the middle of a reservoir. Fortunately the man and his passengers clambered onto the roof of the car and were rescued by the emergency services.
  
  
• In 2008, Syrian lorry driver Necdet Bakimci found himself stranded on a nature reserve in Gibraltar Point, Lincolnshire. He was 1,600 miles from his intended destination: Gibraltar, on the southern tip of Spain. Confusingly, his sat-nav system listed Gibraltar as being in the UK (because it's a colonial outpost). Confronted with a choice of two Gibraltars, both seemingly in the British Isles, Bakimci and his cargo of luxury cars took a 3,200 mile detour.
  
  
• Want to move up in the world? Then buy a car at auction. When police sold the Duchess of York's Jaguar, the lucky buyer got more than he bargained for. The car's in-built sat-nav system was programmed with the address shared by the Duchess and her daughters, Princesses Beatrice and Eugenie, along with locations of some of the favourite haunts of Britain's aristocracy.
  
  
• Villagers in Exton, in southern England, were so used to trucks getting stuck down a two-metre wide country lane that the council put up signs telling drivers to ignore their sat-navs and take a different route. Dozy HGV drivers who relied on their GPS devices had to reverse half a mile, causing damage to hedges and fences, in order to turn around.
  
  
• Police in Victoria, Australia have urged drivers not to discard their old-fashioned maps. An increasing number of motorists have been stranded after relying on their GPS systems, getting taken on routes that are only accessible to four-wheel drive vehicles. Many parts of Australia do not have up-to-date digital mapping and sat-nav companies have been relying on data that can be up to ten years out of date.
  
  
• Zhou Xia and Zhao Na Na's crime spree came to an abrupt end when they were stopped by police in Doncaster, Yorkshire. They were found carrying thousands of Euros and a number of stolen credit cards. But the most damning evidence was the sat-nav device, programmed with the addresses of all the Post Offices that they had defrauded.
  
  
• State troopers in Vermont, USA have called for GPS users to exercise common sense after a series of inattentive drivers found themselves following snowmobile trails. One soldier from Fort Drum, NY, drove so deeply onto a trail that police had to use a snow tractor to drag him to safety.
  
  
• A hospital patient on a ward transfer got taken on an eight-hour magical mystery tour, thanks to bungling London ambulance drivers. Blindly trusting their sat-nav device, the ambulance crew took the patient to a hospital on the outskirts of Manchester, 200 miles away, when they were supposed to travel a mere 12 miles to Brentwood, Essex.
  
  
• Doncaster man Robert Jones had the shock of his life when he found his BMW 5-series teetering on the edge of a steep drop. Following instructions from his sat-nav, the professional driver found himself on a narrow pedestrian lane in Todmorden, West Yorkshire. The 43-year old is due to appear in court on a charge of driving without due care and attention.
  
  
• Redditch woman Paula Ceely cheated death en route to her boyfriend's house in Wales. Her sat-nav system took her to a large metal gate. Certain that this was the correct route, she opened the gate and, moments later, found herself in the path of a railway train. She jumped out of the way as the train smashed into her Renault Clio and carried it down the track. 'I'll never use a sat-nav again,' she told the Daily Telegraph.

On seeing this I am considering never using mine again.......

Opps, has it been that long.......

Well has it really been that long, since I last wrote tut tut naughty me, slap my wrist's. Well I'll try and catch every up with you but I'll properly skip a few things. As I can't really remember the whole detail.

Ok here goes, two weeks ago I was driving to college when I started to here a rumbling sound coming from my engine, now either someone had increase my engine size overnight and changed the bore on my exhaust. Or my exhaust was about to blow out. Well gets home early and I check out the exhaust pipe yep a small hole had appeared by the joint to the middle from the front pipe, ok I thought that will last till I get paid.

Next day gets up as normal to go to work, gets in the car pulls off not less than 50yds later cluck the exhaust drops off...... grrrrr. But wow the car sounded like a monster truck...... So I quickly got out my pushbike and cycled into work. In fact that what I did until last Thursday. Now Pay day for me is the 20th of every month and I couldn't afford the £134 pounds for the part until then, It was that much as the section that had gone had the Catalytic converter on it, the most expensive part on the exhaust and it goes.

Well anyway Kim my Ex wife (Tanis Mum) offered me the money to get it fixed, as this Sunday Today is the last time I will get to take Tanis special as next Sunday he leaves for Brisbane Australia, luckily toad. Tanis is going to have a baptism into flying in big style I mean the other side of the world, You can't beat that unless you want to holiday on the International Space Station,lol. So thanks to Kim I got that fixed and the car now sounds so quite I have to rev it every now and then to check the engine is still running lol.

Friday evening just gone Kelly, Ben and myself went to the Windmill for something to eat, which was nice. Yesterday Kelly and I went shopping at Tesco's and spent most of the day chilling out.

Today it was my time with Tanis, and when I got there I was informed that Tanis had been given the money to buy a hamster and cage and Tanis wanted Daddy to help him choose one so after an afternoon spent along the seafront I took Tanis to the Pets at home store in Bexhill, where he chose a cute white and tan hamster, I picked out the home and the other bits and paid for them. Ok easy huh oh yeah right. I gets all this stuff to Kims house get ready to build this cage up which is one of those that we have got for our hamster (A habitrail ovo suite), lines up the pieces and suddenly notice the roof was missing now this was at 3:4pm Pets at home shut at 4pm. I was straight onto the phone after ringing Keel's to tell her I'd be late home. The appolgised and said if I head up there they would open the shop up and let me swap it. When I got there they had built it up for me and they gave me £10 pounds in gift vouchers.

Well I got it back and set it up and Tanis put the hamster in, not sure what he's called her at the mo as I had to get back quick as by this time is nigh on 5:30pm.

Well that's about it I think.... I'll try and keep up with this in future

So BFN

Sunday with Tanis

Well Today was Sunday and that means contact with Tanis yet again..... I was all set to take Tanis, to Hastings Seafront, however Tanis had other ideas. When I got to his Mums Tanis handed me this leaflet and ask if we could go see the cars, the leaflet was about the Eastbourne Motor Show. So I took him there the traffic was an nightmare on the way, not surprising really considering its Bank Holiday Weekend. When we got there, Tanis soon found is ideal car.

Well he likes sports cars and the colour green.

We walked around looking at the other cars, It made me feel quite old cause every model car I have had was there, except my Citroen Saxo, but I'm sure one day it will be come a classic....lol After walking around the car we found a funfair and Tanis went on the Dodgems. And a couple of side stalls. Before we headed home. The drive home was just as bad as getting there.

Well that's my day well afternoon anyway.

BFN

Hollington Jungle tamed....

Well today was gardening day and thanks to work allowing me to borrow the tools I was able to transform this......

to this

Not a bad days work in the garden.....