Man drove van into fast-flowing river because sat nav told him to

Multiple fire crews, two police cars and a water rescue team were needed to winch them out.

A father-of-three was left fearing for his life after his colleague drove into a fast-flowing river because the ‘sat nav told him to’.

Keiren Gibbons, 28, was in the passenger seat of the waste removal van while his co-worker drove them to a job on September 30.

The pair then came across a part of the River Ure which is usually quite shallow, but had become swollen by recent torrential rain.

Their sat nav directed them to go straight ahead and the van plunged into the river, leaving them up to their knees in water.

Humphrey, a two-year-old French Bulldog also in the vehicle, then started ‘squealing’ as water gushed through the windows.

Keiren, who owns KGZ Waste Removals, described how he was forced to switch into the drivers’ seat in a desperate bid to stop themselves from going under.

He said: ‘The emergency services said we could have lost our lives if we were two feet deeper.

‘We would have been swept away down the river. It was proper bad. It was flowing really fast.

‘I don’t know why we did it, it was stupid and a huge mistake. It was a close call and nearly ended up being so serious. I’m going to go through there ever again.’

Keiren, who had been directing his colleague, said he had used the route ‘three or four times’ already this year.

Witnesses called emergency services, who then deployed fire crews, two police cars and the water rescue team to the scene.

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A rescuer clad in scuba diving gear also had to aid the operation, before the van was winched out of the water.

Fire station manager Andy Creasy, who takes care of Ripon, Boroughbridge, Lofthouse and Masham, criticised Keiren and the driver for attempting to cross the river.

He said: ‘I had one question only, why did you attempt this? The response was my SatNav said this way. Unbelievable stupidity.’

Since the bizarre rescue, North Yorkshire Fire and Rescue took to Twitter urging people to avoid fast-flowing water, especially in the current weather conditions.

They said: ‘Crews from Ripon have rescued two male occupants and a dog from a transit van that drove into a fast-flowing river when crossing a ford.

‘Please avoid fast-flowing water with current weather conditions as they are.’