Manufacturers of satellite navigation systems are being asked to give more help to truck drivers because so many LGVs are becoming stuck after being sent down unsuitable roads.

The Freight Transport Association (FTA) wants manufacturers to start producing equipment to warn truck drivers if roads are likely to be too narrow or take them to somewhere where they might get stuck, unable to go forward or turn around.

James Hookham, the FTA's policy director, says: "There are too many stories of lorries getting stuck or using inappropriate roads because of sat-nav systems, and there is a lot more that suppliers can do to make their systems more useful to the commercial vehicle driver." But Hookham adds that drivers can help themselves by not relying totally on the technology. He says that drivers must use their common sense because "blindly following the advice of a computer is not always the best policy".

The FTA wants the makers of sat-nav systems to incorporate more specific information in future, including: vehicle width, height and length restrictions any relevant LGV bans kerbside loading and unloading restrictions plus recommended truck routes. The association says that information on truck parks, driver facilities and public weighbridges would also help avoid problems.

Hookham adds: "Delivery vehicles do a great job in bringing goods to the doorstep of companies and consumers every day and we want to make this process as safe and efficient as possible, and avoid the distress and inconvenience of large lorries using unsuitable roads."

On one road in Wales, the local council has put up a special warning sign on a route where several lorries have become stuck. The sign, on the A48 near St Hilary in the Vale of Glamorgan, was designed by a local traffic engineer and is to be trialled for a year. If successful it could be used elsewhere in Wales. Also in Wales, an articulated truck driven by a Polish driver was stuck for more than three hours on a tight bend near Tycroes, Carmarthenshire, after the driver took instructions from his sat-nav.

David Harris