- Blundering officers said ‘only legal place to put one is the bottom right hand side’
- Motorists even posted images showing police cars with sat navs in the middle
- The tweet has now been hauled offline by red-faced traffic bosses and replaced with detailed guidance on placing the systems
Police have been forced to delete a Twitter post that wrongly claimed it is illegal to put a sat nav in the middle of your windscreen.
The post sparked furious debate among drivers after blundering officers said the ‘only legal place to put one is the bottom right hand side’.
Some eagle-eyed motorists even posted images showing police cars with navigation systems in the middle of their windscreens.
Others suggested that tell-tale suction marks could be seen in the centre of the glass in the picture used to illustrate correct placement.
The tweet has now been hauled offline by red-faced traffic bosses and replaced with detailed guidance on sat navs.
The post sparked furious sat nav debate among drivers after blundering officers said the ‘only legal place to put one is the bottom right hand side’. But eagle-eyed Twitter users spotted tell-tale suction marks in the centre of the glass in the picture.
A Greater Manchester Police spokesman admitted to MailOnline: ‘We removed it when we understood that the information in the tweet was factually incorrect and then we posted another one.’
But the post was spotted by drivers before it was deleted and widely ridiculed.
One user joked: ‘Surely the moron that posted this initially must have noticed the middle of the windscreen was covered in sucker marks.’
Meanwhile, John Batty said: ‘The deletion is even more damning than the tweet.’
Spectator editor Fraser Nelson added: ‘It makes a very good point about how the law has baffled even the police.’
The Highway Code states that windscreens and windows ‘must be kept clean and free from obstructions’.
That means drivers can fit their sat navs in the centre as long as they are low down enough and not blocking the view of the road.
If traffic police think it is in the way, they can issue a £100 fine and three penalty points.
Jack Cousens, head of roads policy for the AA, said: ‘The law is simply not that specific when it comes to installing a sat-nav, or a dash cam on your windscreen.
‘Even official government information related to the changes to the driving test show a sat nav centrally mounted – but importantly low down where it doesn’t interfere with the driver’s view of the road.
‘The point they were probably trying to get across was ‘don’t put your sat-nav right in the middle of your windscreen’, which is something they probably see and deal with on a regular basis.’