Photos: Sat-nav blunder sees lorry driver wedge HGV between house and church wall

“Why invent new signs? We already have signs for weight limits, which is the obvious way to exclude such vehicles as well as signs that say "Unsuitable for HGV's" and others to state a roads maximum width. Its hard to imagine the road had none of these.

If the driver had told a policeman that he committed a traffic offence through reliance on his sat-nav the officer would on that basis charge him/her with 'driving without due care and attention'.

You can lead a horse to water but you cannot make it drink.”

“Perhaps the signpost could be changed to a danger sign with a picture of an HGV with a line through it, then there can be no excuse for not being able to read English. These small side roads/lanes were never designed to take large vehicles, although I suspect large tractor units use them.”

“This is not a Sat Nav error it is a map reading error. he simply didn't look at a map. When you drive an articulated lorry you keep as far as possible to 'A' roads to avoid such predicaments.

When a vehicle is as long as an articulated lorry the road only has to have a kink or bend, and suddenly the road is too narrow. Stone walls down country roads often have have bulges. If it has been raining, your wheel has only to stray onto the grass verge for the rain sodden verge to give way; and allow the weight of your vehicle push you down into a ditch.

Nowadays most domestic sat-navs can accept downloadable software to warn of low bridges, weight restrictions, and narrow roads.

Why would anyone with a vehicle that size not have left the M5 and followed an A road such as the A39 or A358 to reach Watchett?

In this instance, not even being foreign is an excuse. Road signs are harmonised across Europe. The only explanation is that the driver was too lazy to buy a map book to augment his sat nav. Don't blame the sat-nav, blame the driver.”

“the tyres that are burst appear to on the trailer and this would have been caused by hitting the high kerb/wall. however this incident highlights the problems u.k. truck drivers all too often comes across with foreign drivers where the driving test standards are not as high as they are in this country. u.k. employers are often using e.u. nationals as a means of cheap labour, when many of these drivers lack the training and many of them can't (or won't) speak english, creating many problems with health and safety, and driving standards.”

“"I've contacted the Highways Agency about this before and they seem to think it's difficult to stop them coming through."

What rubbish! this should be classed a sub-standard road as with exceptionally low bridges & the max vehicle width specified.
How can we have foreign drivers who can't read signs anyway.
However maybe this guttering extends over the road causing the problem, not in this case obviously.
What an idiot driver who appears to have revved his tyres to destruction lets hope he gets a big fine.
It would appear good relations for the mill to signpost but maybe planners will object.”

“There is a system for truck drivers, but most truck companies won't meet the cost (anywhere from £250.00 upwards) but you cannot legislate for a person who blindly follows the device without looking at the road and thinking 'this won't fit down there'. I drive a truck of that size and agree the sat nav directs you this way to the paper mill, but it is obvious to most people that the road is not suitable for lgv, however this is a common problem with foreign truck drivers who are not used to our roads. Perhaps the paper mill should be asked to signpost a truck route to the mill.”