HIGHWAYS chiefs in Suffolk have been forced to put up warning signs telling drivers to ignore their on-board satellite navigation systems.They have made the move because faulty directions are causing chaos.

HIGHWAYS chiefs in Suffolk have been forced to put up warning signs telling drivers to ignore their on-board satellite navigation systems.

They have made the move because faulty directions are causing chaos.

Scores of motorists have found themselves stuck as they tried to squeeze under a low bridge at Needham Market after they ignored original signs and followed the spoken route.

But now giant warning signs have been put on each side of the railway bridge - which has just over 8ft of headroom - after complaints from drivers and locals.

“The problem is that some sat nav systems appear to show it as a level crossing not a bridge so lorry drivers think they can get across,” said Suffolk County Council spokeswoman Sandra Graffham.

“People think that the systems are infallible and obey blindly every instruction but we had lots of complaints and reports of lorries backing up along narrow country lanes - it was not safe.

“Our new signs are advisory but by the end of the year drivers will be committing an offence if they try and get through.”

As prices for the kits drops to around £100 more than 4 million drivers in the UK now regularly rely on sat nav to help them reach their destination by the most efficient route avoiding jams and delays

But last year in a special Which? survey two out of 14 devices tested sent drivers down dirt tracks and a third ordered a driver to perform an illegal and dangerous U-turn.