A Czech lorry driver spent three nights in his cab after his satellite navigation system directed him down a narrow country lane.

The driver, 45, was on his way to pick up a consignment of televisions from a depot in Devon when his 40-tonne articulated lorry became wedged on a sharp bend near Ivybridge. Residents were forced to make lengthy diversions as it was impossible to get past the 50ft (15m) long, 8ft wide lorry.

Yuri Odenhai had tried to ask for directions before following his sat-nav’s guidance but his English was not good enough to make himself understood. His progress was halted by a low overhead pipe and he became stuck when he tried to reverse.

It took several days to release the lorry because the haulage company that owns it did not want to pay for an expensive recovery operation at the weekend.

Eventually, the lorry was towed out by a tractor. Mat Auburn, 19, whose family live within yards of the scene, said that there had been similar sat-nav blunders in the past with delivery lorries becoming stuck in the lane, which is used as a short cut between the A379 and A38.

His family took pity on the stranded driver and invited him in for meals for the three days his lorry was trapped. Mr Auburn said: “The diversion put a few miles on people’s journeys. He had stopped near a house to ask for directions but the woman couldn’t understand him.”

Mr Auburn’s mother, Marina, is Croatian and was able to communicate with the driver. Mrs Auburn and her husband, Tim, a university lecturer, gave the driver breakfast, lunch and dinner and struck up a friendship that they plan to continue.

Mr Odenhai had insisted on spending the nights in his cab rather than finding a bed and breakfast. A spokesman for the Czech haulage company, Kohlman and Hasek, admitted that sat-nav was to blame.

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