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25
Feb 2021
Sat nav failure sees Leeds man stuck in 'god-forsaken' Ripon
A Leeds man suffered an embarrassing sat nav failure when his car got stuck on a tiny footpath on the outskirts of Ripon.
The driver, who told his rescuers he was an ex-army man trying to cross the River Skell to get to work, was marooned for an hour.
He went down Borrage Green Lane, which turns into a narrow footpath that leads to a tiny footbridge.
Although the route is clearly unsuitable for vehicles, and barely wide enough to navigate in his Citroen, he soldiered on until he somehow managed to reach the bridge.
Finally accepting it was impossible to cross, he attempted to turn only for the back end of his vehicle to get wedged in the banking.
Luckily mum Jo Allenby, who was feeding her alpacas at the time of the incident early on Saturday morning, saw the mayhem and called a local farmer to help.
The farmer's vehicle was too wide to get down the footpath so he drove a farm vehicle across the field and, with the help of another passer-by, was eventually able to release the vehicle.
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The sheepish driver then reversed to a slightly wider area, did a three-point turn and drove off without saying a word. Ms Allenby said:
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