CONFUSED paramedics transferring a patient from King George's Hospital in Ilford to a specialist one just half an hour away in Brentwood ended up over 200 miles off track on the outskirts of Manchester.

The London Ambulance Service (LAS) had been asked to transfer the mental health patient the short 12-mile journey from King George's to Mascalls Park hospital.

But the straightforward journey became an eight-and-a-half-hour, 425-mile round-slog after the driver placed "mind-boggling, trusting nature" in the ambulance's satellite navigation system - unsurprisingly which was later found to be faulty.

Andrew Howard, head of road safety at the AA Motoring Trust, said: "I spend a lot of time looking at these stories and sit back in incredulity at hearing them.

"Satellite navigation systems tell you how far the journey is and to travel (to Manchester) without noticing is just hard to accept.

"We hear stories of lorry drivers who crash into bridges because they are using car sat nav systems which do not take into account the extra height, and of people driving into rivers and fjords because the system didn't recognise they were there.

"This leaves the mind boggling at the trusting nature of the driver."

The embarrassing chain of events for the LAS began at around 4am last Tuesday, November 28, when the ambulance crew left King George's in preparation for the short journey.

However, instead of arriving at Mascalls Park at 4.30am - the estimated time of arrival - the patient was finally dropped off shortly after lunchtime.

Lee Scott, MP for Ilford North, highlighted the serious side of the story.

He said: "I just cannot believe this happened. Even if they didn't know the area surely they knew roughly how far they had to go.

"But, on a serious note, how many other patients was that ambulance needed for during all that time when it wasn't available? That is the really worrying thing."

A LAS spokesman said: "We can confirm that a crew transferring a patient was misdirected as a result of an error with the mobile date terminal on the ambulance.

"We believe that the crew, which had not been to this particular hospital before, followed the directions given by the navigation system, without manually confirming its destination.

"The patient was in a comfortable condition at all times while in our care and he arrived safely at Mascalls Park early that afternoon.

"The problem with the navigation database is also now being fixed."