Prat-nav! Blundering Uber minibus driver gets stuck on rocky hillside after GPS took him on short-cut across Saddleworth Moor

 A minibus driver was forced to abandon his Mercedes Vito on a narrow hillside lane after following his sat nav which offered him a shortcut over an unsuitable track. 

The driver was trying to get back to the A62 towards Manchester after making a drop off in Marsden, near Huddersfield, West Yorkshire. Unfortunately for the driver, his sat nav advised him to take a shortcut over Saddleworth Moor towards the hamlet of Grange in the remote Delph area of Oldham on Saturday night. 

An unidentified minicab driver got stuck on this track after his sat nav directed him over Saddleworth Moor in Greater Manchester

The driver continued up the laneway despite the worsening terrain until he was forced to abandon his cab and return on Monday to have it retrieved 

The cab suffered damage to to the rear bumper after it struck some of the large rocks on the roadway

The driver was trying to make his way back to Manchester from Marsden when he was directed towards a track leading across Saddleworth Moor on Saturday night when he got stuck

A short time after turning onto the trail, the driver noticed the road was strewn with stones and rocks. Despite the debris, he continued following his digital assistant until the large van ground to a halt. 

The driver attempted to reverse back down the lane but was forced to abandon his cab at the bottom of Hey Flake Lane. 

He called two friends who picked him up and left the minibus on the lane overnight. 

The following day, a group of walkers found the van and thought it may have been dumped on the laneway by joyriders, until the driver, who has not been identified, returned to pick up his cab.  

Local Craig Hannah said: 'It's amazing the driver got that far because it was such a rough and very steep track.

'Apparently he had been working in the area late on Saturday night and was trying to return to base. A passenger did say he could drive down the lane even though there was a sign warning that it was unsuitable for vehicles.

'If you were local you would know the road is not passable but this guy was clearly out of town and didn't know.

The council has put up signs warning drivers that the track is not suitable for use

The cab was rescued on Monday and taken to a garage for repairs to its body 

Locals said the driver 'was a really nice guy' who lost at least two days wages while his cab was stuck on the trail

'He got wedged about halfway down the lane and he couldn't reverse so he carried on going. He got so stuck he apparently could not get his door open. It was a nightmare by all accounts.

'From what we could see the back bumper was off and the only way to retrieve it will be to drag it back up the hill. The driver is a really nice guy who has lost two days of his livelihood. He was shocked.'

A tow truck was summoned to pick up the minibus whilst a local farmer with a tractor was put on standby to help retrieve the vehicle which will now be taken to a garage for an estimate to repair.

In 2008 Oldham Council put up warning sings after scores of motorists became trapped down the same dirt-track on Saddleworth Moor after being guided there by satellite navigation systems. Some drivers were reportedly left in tears after becoming stranded.

One local said: 'We heard the taxi driver was just blindly following his satnav and got stuck. I would have thought the passenger he dropped off would have known the road was impassable. Some people just don't learn from the old adage - the computer is not always right.'