Police are trying to halt the regular 'satnav' chaos at Kingswear, caused by lorry drivers who are fooled into thinking the River Dart is really a road.

Lorries are forced to reverse almost a mile up the lane from the Higher Ferry at Kingswear after they arrive only to find they are too heavy to make the crossing – despite the weight restriction signs on the approach roads. On two days in a row last week police were forced to close the Kingswear Higher Ferry road as they oversaw lorries forced to make the lengthy reversing operation.

A police spokesman blamed the problem on satellite navigation equipment which direct the lorry drivers to the ferry as the most direct route to Dartmouth.

Some equipment even show the ferry crossing as a road.

Now the police are teaming up with Devon County Council to try to look at ways stopping the big lorries from trying to drive across the Dart.

A police spokesman said: 'There are signs at the top of the road pointing out the weight restriction but the drivers tend to ignore them and go on their satnav instead.

'Sometimes their satnav shows a road crossing the River Dart. They drive down and then realise they cannot get across.'

Police were called to Kingswear on the mornings of last Thursday and Friday after lorries arrived at the ferry crossing only to be told to turn around.

Both lorries had to reverse up the narrow lane as far as the entrance to the Noss on Dart site before they could turn around.

The police spokesman said: 'The road was momentarily closed to reverse the HGVs up to Noss Marina to turn them around.

'The police would like to apologise for any inconvenience this caused and we are now working with Devon Highways to try to resolve the situation.'

That is likely to initially involve improved signage to persuade HGVs to turn around sooner.