Skip to main content

Air freight

In Switzerland, an Opel delivery van had to be airlifted from a mountain, following a navigation error by its driver. The driver followed the directions given by his satellite navigation system, which told him to follow a narrow track that wound slowly upwards.
February 21, 2012 Read time: 1 min
In Switzerland, an Opel delivery van had to be airlifted from a mountain, following a navigation error by its driver. The driver followed the directions given by his satellite navigation system, which told him to follow a narrow track that wound slowly upwards. Trusting his GPS system, the man drove as directed up the narrow pathway until the vehicle could move no further. The van finally became firmly wedged between a fence and a stone wall and unable to turn around or reverse, the driver called the emergency services. They provided a helicopter to remove the van. However a local fireman praised the driver's off-road skills in negotiating the goat track in his Opel van.

Related Content

  • Priestly intervention
    May 24, 2013
    In Naples a hapless driver caused an unexpected delay when he attempted a u-turn in a narrow city street. The man managed to manoeuvre his car in such as way as to only be able to move forward and back a few centimetres at a time. Despite the small size of his Fiat 500, his bumbling meant the car blocked the road. Other vehicles soon began to queue on either side, hooting horns to show their displeasure at having to wait. Minutes later a group of Harley Davidson riders joined those waiting and were followed
  • Tractor chase
    July 16, 2012
    A man in Germany has good reason to regret his drunken decision to steal a tractor when his girlfriend left him at a nightclub. The man stole the tractor and tried to drive home, despite the fact that he has no license. Police were alerted and up to six emergency vehicles then followed the tractor, which was trundling along at 20km/h. The officers made several attempts to stop the man, holding up 'stop' signs, attempting to fire a pepper spray through the open rear window and finally placing spikes on the r
  • Grave crime
    February 28, 2012
    A British man was sent to prison for four years after being stopped by police while he was in the process of stealing a JCB telehandler. In his attempts to elude following police, the man veered wildly along narrow roads with no thought for other road users. He then drove the telehandler through a graveyard, smashing headstones and damaging graves in his escape bid. This proved fruitless however as a police helicopter had joined the pursuit and was able to direct police cars towards the speeding JCB. The ma
  • Daring duos?
    March 27, 2014
    In the US, a mother became her son’s partner in crime by acting as his getaway driver following a street robbery. After the son stole a pensioner’s wallet, the mother drove him away from the scene of the crime. The son did tell his mother what he had just done, as the not-so-daring duo drove away. The mother refused to let officers search their home, explaining that her son had thrown away the empty wallet, having spent the US$40 it had contained. The son was charged with robbery.