An elderly man visiting Devizes took a wrong turning in his car and ended up stuck on the Kennet and Avon Canal towpath.

The driver, who is in his early seventies, was unable to turn his Vauxhall Astra round and tried to carry on driving on the towpath to find an exit but got stuck after about half a mile and summoned help.

The man got on to the towpath by driving down a ramp near the Hourglass pub, Horton Avenue, and was heading towards Coate bridge.

The driver’s mishap happened at about 11pm on Saturday and the car was still there today.

It is half on and half off the towpath and blocking the way for cyclists, although walkers can get by. The Astra has a few scrapes but is not thought to be badly damaged.

Police said there was no sign of intoxication on the part of the driver and he drove on to the towpath in error. They said as he is not local he took a wrong turning.

The Canal and River Trust, which is responsible for the canal, was liasiing with the driver’s insurance company to recover the car and hoped to remove it today.

A spokesman said: “It will have to be lifted out by crane and we will need access to farmland to do that.

"The driver of the car was very apologetic about the whole thing.”