£96,000 Merc written off as satnav leads woman astray

This is what happened to a driver who put her faith in her satellite navigation system – she ended up in deep water. The £96,000 Mercedes sports car was swept away in a swollen river and the motorist had to be rescued as it sank.

The driver, the latest of many to be led astray by satnavs, was on her way to a christening party in Leicestershire when she was sent down a winding track usually used only by farmers in their 4x4s.



Although the track is signposted as ‘unsuitable for motor vehicles’, the driver carried on and found herself at a ford in the village of Sheepy Magna.

Still accepting what the satnav told her, she set out to cross the ford, but it was swollen after days of heavy rain.

The Mercedes SL500 was swept 600 yards downstream, bouncing fromone bank of the River Sense to the other as the woman, in her late 20s and from London, frantically tried to escape.

She was finally rescued by villager Alice Clark when the car ran aground.