EMERGENCY services spent almost four hours attempting to move a jammed lorry from the centre of West Linton this week.

And they eventually had to resort to bottles of washing up liquid for the vehicle to get out of the jam.

The 20-tonne Jenkinson Forest Products lorry arrived in the village just before 9.30am on Wednesday.

It is understood that the fully loaded vehicle was sent through West Linton by its sat-nav system.

And it ended up becoming stuck on a tight bend at the junction of Main Street and Deanfoot Road.

A Police Scotland spokesman told us: "We received a call that a lorry had become stuck in West Linton at 9.30am.

"The vehicle was safely removed and the road re-opened at 1.10pm."

Specialist recovery firm, Barry Devlin Services, was called to the scene.

But they couldn't wedge the lorry out using normal machinery.

Eventually they retreated to the local Co-op store for washing up liquid to use as a lubricant.

Journalist Martin Hannan, who lives nearby, said: “It wasn’t looking very clever until the Fairy Liquid did the trick - and yes, it was the mild green variety that goes a long, long way and got the lorry out.”

Although the recovery did have a happy ending, locals believe this latest incident highlights the problems of HGVs being sent into the centre of the village by sat-navs.

Deb Armstrong, who lives close to the junction, added: “The serious point is that the jam did block the main route through the village for four hours, and could have delayed the local fire engine from getting out.

“It’s not the first time that lorries have been sent along this road by their sat navs and blocked the roads – it’s very dangerous and something needs to be done before pedestrians get hurt or houses get damaged.”