AN 86-year-old Fenland resident got the shock of his life when bailiffs knocked at his door - after a sat nav error took them to the wrong address.
Neville Angell was minding his own business in his garden in Park Street, Chatteris, when two men arrived and told him: “We’ve come to repossess your house.”
Startled, Mr Angell remonstrated with the debt collectors to tell them they had the wrong place and called police for back up.
A quick check revealed the bailiffs actually wanted a house in East Park Street but had got the wrong place thanks to a faulty sat-nav.
Mr Angell said he often got deliveries in error and wrong callers because of outdated electronic maps but never a bouncer threatening to take away his possessions.
He said: “I saw the two men and asked if I could help them. They said: ‘We’ve come to repossess your house’. However they should have been in East Park Street.
“I have had it a lot with wrong deliveries and callers and it’s getting a nuisance. However this could have been a bit more serious.
“I keep asking myself: ‘What if I had not been at home?’ What would have happened then?”
Once Mr Angell explained to the Colchester-based bailiffs they were in the wrong place, they left immediately.
But he fears the misunderstanding could have caused them to break in had he not been there.
He believes the area should have better signposts so people who do take the wrong turning know what street they are in.
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