SATELLITE navigation was supposed to take the stress out of driving but the system is causing a headache for some people in Colerne.

The new technology pinpoints the best route for drivers, but it has sent lorries and other heavy vehicles along a single-track lane at Tutton Hill. Large vehicles travelling along the A4 from Box to Colerne have repeatedly found the street too narrow and ended up getting stuck.

People living in the area have written to Wiltshire County Council to suggest a ban on large vehicles using the route. Dennis Coles, 83, of Tutton Hill said: "I have lived here for 25 years and the problem has got worse and worse.

"It is definitely the satellite navigation systems that have caused it in the last few years.

"I live right on the side of Tutton Hill and a group of us have got together to try and do something about it. "We have taken a number of photographs and are getting a lot of information about the lorries that come along the road.

"It is a very steep and narrow hill and the residents park outside their homes. It is impossible for the big modern lorries to get through. "The drivers have to come and bang on people's doors because they can't get through. "There was a lorry that came by last week from Newcastle. It is proving a real nuisance."

Satellite navigation systems display maps or directions on a small screen and announce when to make a turn. The technology relies on a global network of satellites in orbit that transmit radio signals, which can be picked up on the ground by anyone using a receiver. Sales have increased by 300 per cent over the last year.

Chairman of the parish council Dick Tongue, who also lives at Tutton Hill, said: "About six months ago we had a coachload of Japanese tourists that got stuck. "We gave them cups of tea while they were waiting and they all thought it was rather exciting. "The truck drivers always get out and curse their sat nav systems because that is how they ended up here.

"Over the last year all these big vehicles get stuck and then the drivers get really angry.

"I think it is the drivers travelling from Box to Colerne when they are making deliveries.

"Hopefully it will get back to the Ordnance Survey and they will make sure our street is not used."