A man driving from Newcastle to Rome ended up in a German village called Rom after blindly following his car’s sat-nav system.
Luigi Rimonti, 81, had done the journey from northern England before but still followed the directions which suggested a far shorter route.
But instead of arriving in the bustling Italian capital, where he hoped to see the Pope, he pulled into a sleepy village of 67 people about an hour east of Cologne.
When he stopped to puzzle at his surroundings – and the lack of a Colosseum – Mr Rimonti forgot the handbrake and his Jaguar knocked over a “Rom” street sign.
He tried to stop the car as it rolled back but got caught in the open door and fell over.
Mr Rimonti went to hospital as a precaution but was not seriously injured in Friday’s incident.
He decided to wait for his car to be repaired and was still intending to complete his journey to the Eternal City.
