Bus driver's GPS fail takes 50 tourists on 750-mile detour

Bus driver takes tourists to wrong La Plagne

A bus driver taking 50 Belgian tourists to a French ski resort managed to make a 750-mile detour - after choosing the wrong village of the same name as his intended destination on his GPS.

The driver had been meaning to take the tourists to La Plagne, a ski resort in the Alps.

Instead, he chose the wrong option and headed to a village of the same name in the south of France near Spain - 400 miles southwest of the ski destination.

According to Sky News, the driver told Studio Brussel radio, the youth channel of publicly owned VRT, which organised the failed holiday: "There are three entries for La Plagne in France, and I selected the wrong one."

According to the Guardian, one passenger wrote on Twitter: "We saw the Mediterranean and Carcassonne," referring to the famous medieval fortress town, a hotspot for tourists.

The site adds that the bus driver realised his mistake at Toulouse, and turned back.

The holidaymakers got to their destination 24 hours later than planned.

They received a warm welcome of Spanish tapas from their Studio Brussel hosts, and some of the travellers said they were quite happy with the surprise bus journey.