Bexhill: sat-nav blunder

The un-named woman, 52, was crossing the Eastbourne to Hastings line at Norman's Bay on Tuesday night when the mistake was made.

It caused delays to passengers for more than an hour as rail services were suspended.

No lives were put at risk because the crossing is manned.

A spokesman for British Transport Police said: ''This was a very unusual incident.

''As far as I know there has never been an incident of this kind in Sussex. At the moment we are investigating whether there is a fault with the satellite navigation system.

''We are trying to establish whether the fault lies with the system, the woman or a mixture of both.

''Once all our evidence is gathered we will be passing our file to the Crown Prosecution Service for them to decide whether this case goes to court.''

The woman from Dorking, Surrey, had programmed the satellite navigation system in her Ford Fiesta as she was leaving the Cooden Beach Hotel.

As she travelled across the level crossing at Norman's Bay towards Pevensey Bay it is said that the system ordered her to take an immediate right.

It left her car blocking both east and westbound lines.

A spokesman for Southern Railways said: ''We were alerted to a car being on a track and all trains using that line were suspended.

''The crossing patrolman raised the alarm immediately and to cause minimum disruption we brought in a bus replacement service.

''No passengers or trains were put in danger at any time.''

The incident on Tuesday night happened at around 7pm. No damage was caused to either the car or the track, but the vehicle had to be towed away.

Services returned to normal around 8.15pm.