Police correct their way out website (From Herald Series)

Police correct their way out website

12:00pm Saturday 17th November 2012 in Abingdon

COMPUTER users relying on technology to get them to Abingdon Police Station were left baffled when they used the force’s own website.

People clicking on to the Thames Valley Police website found themselves directed to a cul-de-sac half a mile away instead.

For directions the site linked to Microsoft search engine Bing’s mapping service.

Len Lambe, 72, the owner of Lambridge Finance at The Chestnuts, spotted the anomaly.

Mr Lambe, who has lived in Abingdon for 30 years, said: “While knowing precisely where Abingdon Police Station is, I thought I would check out this wonderful new Internet facility.”

Rather than heading to the distinctive tall building, opposite McDonald’s, with the tilted greenhouse in the roof, the directions ended up in Eyston Way. After the issue was raised by the Oxford Mail, police changed the link to Google Maps instead.

Police spokesman Adam Fisher said: “We apologise for any inconvenience this caused, however, Thames Valley Police is not responsible for the results search engines use to identify postcodes. “We are putting a temporary solution in place and will contact both Bing and Google to address the issue.”