A Belgian driver who wanted to pick up a friend from the train station 38 miles away from her home in Solre-sur-Sambre, ended up 900 miles away in Zagreb, Croatia due to a problem with her sat-nav.

Sabine Moreau made an astonishing 900 mile journey across Europe without realising she was following the wrong directions

Although Sabine Moreau, 67, stopped several times to refuel her car during the journey that crossed 5 borders with multiple-language traffic signs, she did not stop until 2 days later when intuition told her she may no longer be in Belgium!

“I saw all kinds of traffic signs. First in French, then in German – Cologne, Aachen, Frankfurt. But I didn’t ask myself any questions. I was just distracted, so I kept my foot down,” Sabine told a Belgian news website.

Ms Moreau finally made it home 60 hours after starting her journey, just before the police in Belgium launched a manhunt for her after being alerted by her son.

A police spokesman said: “This is an incredible story. These GPS systems cause problems from time to time but nothing like this. But this woman has done nothing wrong and we just have to believe her”.

The junction of Bagley’s Lane and New King’s Road in the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham has been dubbed the “Moneybox” by motorists after it generated £2.7m in fines for the local council in 2012.

The “Moneybox” on Google Streetview

In total the local council issued 40,634 penalty notices in 2012-2012 or an average of 111 a day. Each fine costs motorists £65 and will rise to £130 if not paid within two weeks.

Frustrated drivers have accused Hammersmith and Fulham Council of deliberately designing the junction as a trap to catch them out and make money. Motorists ague that the two sets of traffic lights at the Moneybox junction are designed to allow more drivers to enter the controlled area than leave it.

An illustration from Daily Mail explains how drivers get into the trap:

South West Londoner Sunsanne More, who has been fined twice at the Moneybox, said: “There’s something fundamentally wrong with the number of fines issued to drivers going into this junction. It seems the council has decided this is a really good money-making scheme. The yellow box is far too long. It doesn’t give you enough time to get out and signalling is awful.”

The location of the yellow box on Google Maps

Have you been caught in a similar “Moneybox”? If yes, let us know in the comments below.