Sat-navs send drivers up the wrong garden path

13 April 2012

When Joyce Cook opened the door at 3am to a sinister-looking man in a black motorbike helmet who insisted he had a passport for her she politely told him he had the wrong address.

Just as she did when a van driver tried to deliver a lounge suit. Indeed, Ms Cook regularly receives callers hoping to drop off all manner of items at her isolated cottage in Surrey, none of which have been for her.

The reason is simple — sat-nav. The retired civil servant's house near Godalming is what is known as the pinpoint for the postcode she shares with 31 other properties.

It means that when a driver keys her postcode into the satellite navigation system, the vehicle is directed to her doorstep.

Many drivers tend to ignore written information once their sat-nav issues directions.

Ms Cook said: "The sat-nav system has become the bane of my life. My cottage, being quite old, is the reference point for the postcode shared by several people.

"The houses are quite far apart, which means drivers assume mine is their destination. It seems that when people engage their sat-nav they switch off their brains. Even if they've got the delivery address marked clearly in front of them they sail past."

This seems to have been the case when a lorry recently made its way down Ms Cook's narrow road, only to become stuck. It had to be towed away the following day.

There appears little Mrs Cook can do. "It seems I'm powerless," she said. "I can't find out who is responsible for deciding which house is made the pinpoint on satellite navigation systems.

"It looks like I'm just going to have to put up with it."

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in