A white van man has been slammed by fire crews after driving into a fast flowing river because his 'sat nav told him to'.
Firefighters had to rescue him, another man and a dog from the van when it became part-submerged and was in danger of being swept down the raging River Ure in Ripon, North Yorkshire.
Twenty fire crew with four engines had to deal with the rescue - at a cost of thousands of pounds to the public purse.
In a tweet they branded the driver "unbelievably stupid".
North Yorkshire Fire and Rescue were called with police at 3.52pm yesterday to reports of people trapped in the flowing water as stormy weather lashed the region.
Fire station manager Andy Creasy criticised the van's occupants for 'reckless stupidity' after he asked them why they had attempted to cross the flooded, raging river.
Mr Creasy, who is also the district manager for Ripon, Boroughbridge, Lofthouse and Masham, shared the incident with photos of the submerged van on Twitter.
He said "Ripon Blue Watch along with multiple FRS resources from North Fire and Rescue Service were mobilised along with North Yorkshire Police to this.
"I had one question only, why did you attempt this? "The response was my SatNav said this way.
"Unbelievable stupidity."
They rescued two men and a dog from the transit van marooned in the tributary of the River Ure.
The fire service also 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."
The van was later hauled from the river with winches and pulleys.
