MAGPIECHINESE POLICE have cautioned a couple for trying to teach their dog to drive on a motorway.
Traffic police at Liunan stopped the car after spotting it driving too slowly on an expressway. As they approached the car, they were shocked to see a poodle with its front legs on the steering wheel. Its hind legs were resting on the female driver, who was controlling the foot pedals.
The woman said she and her boyfriend decided to teach their dog to drive when they noticed the road was almost empty.
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A 33-year-old mother from Sonthofen in Germany stole expensive cosmetics from a shop and ran off, but left her six-year-old daughter behind.
Birgit Mahler stuffed the cosmetics into her handbag, and when a security tag went off, ran out of the shop before security staff could react.
"Unfortunately she forgot about her six-year-old daughter who was left standing alone wondering where her mother had gone," a police spokesman said.
Staff called the police and they collected the child. The girl's father later reported his daughter missing and was shocked to discover how she had been lost.
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A Cardiff family heading for a week's holiday in Lanzarote accidentally flew to Turkey instead.
Charles Coray, his wife and nine-year-old daughter did not realise they had landed in the wrong country until an air hostess said: "Welcome to Turkey."
The mix-up occurred when they were handed the wrong boarding passes at Cardiff airport. The Corays had booked an all-inclusive holiday with First Choice and were supposed to be flying into Arrecife, Lanzarote.
Instead they found themselves in Bodrum airport, Turkey, where they then had to pay a £10 (€13) visa charge per person before boarding a flight back to Cardiff, as they did not want to stay in Turkey.
"We're now booked on a like-for-like holiday in Ibiza. My daughter has looked at the pictures in the brochure and is excited again," Mr Coray told reporters. "I'll make sure I check the boarding passes so we don't make that mistake again."
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A Syrian lorry driver hauling luxury cars from Turkey to Gibraltar was sent on a 2,600km (1,600-mile) detour to Skegness in Lincolnshire, England, by his satellite navigation system.
Birdwatchers at Skegness's Gibraltar Point were puzzled when Necdet Bakimci tried to steer his 32-tonne lorry down a narrow lane towards the North Sea.
He explained in broken English that he was looking for Coral Road in Gibraltar.
"He showed me his delivery docket," said birdwatcher Steven Humphreys. "I had my laptop and found the place in Gibraltar. Amazingly, the guy didn't seem too upset."
The driver called his firm in Antakya, Turkey, and it arranged for a Birmingham company to ship the cars to the correct destination. Mr Bakimci then began his journey home.
The incident has prompted calls for drivers to use more common sense when relying on satellite navigation systems.
It is thought that the mix-up took place because Mr Bakimci's device had listed Gibraltar as UK territory and directed him towards Britain instead of Spain.