Moooove! Escaped cow brings traffic chaos to the M55 forcing drivers to swerve around it
- The young Friesian cow was spotted on the M55, between Preston and Kirkham
- Video shows cow cantering up motorway as woman repeatedly shrieks ‘no’
- Farmer Richard Cardwell claimed to own the cow and apologised on Facebook
This is the moment an escaped cow caused traffic chaos after wandering onto a major motorway – forcing drivers to swerve around it.
The young Friesian cow was spotted trotting into the path of oncoming vehicles on the busy M55, between Preston and Kirkham, Lancashire, on Thursday.
A car passenger filmed the frightened farm animal standing on the chevrons in the middle of the busy road.
They slowly drive past and can be heard saying ‘this isn’t going to end well’. The cow then starts to canter down the middle of the lane and a woman’s voice shrieks: ‘Oh no, no, no, no, no, no. No, not across there. Oh my God.’
Some children’s voices can be heard in the background with one asking her to zoom in before a man’s voice says: ‘S***e. Excuse my language.’
It then turns around and starts walking towards traffic in the nearside lane forcing another driver to swerve their car around the cow.
One eyewitness wrote on Facebook that ‘there must have been 10 of them [cows], they looked quite scared’.
A cow stands on chevrons in the middle of the M55, between Preston and Kirkham, in Lancashire, causing traffic chaos
One car passenger filmed the cow as their car slowly started to drive past. The Friesian cow then started to canter up the middle of the lane
The woman can be heard repeatedly shrieking ‘no’, with children’s voices also heard in the background. The cow then stops and turns around
It caused significant delays on the eastbound carriageway between junctions four and three with some motorists saying their journeys took an extra two hours, reported LancashireLive.
Emergency services later shut down the carriageway as they tried to capture the animal.
A Lancashire Constabulary spokesperson said at the time: ‘Please be advised the M55 eastbound is currently closed between junction four and junction three. The road is closed due to reports of animals on the carriageway and we anticipate this will be closed for some time. Thank you in advance for your patience.’
The cow had escaped from nearby RJ Cardwell Farm.
Farmer Richard Cardwell claimed to own the cow and apologised on Facebook. He claimed it had only escaped due to vandals destroying his fencing.
He said: ‘Sorry for any inconvenience as they were my cows but the cows shouldn’t of [sic] been on the field w[h]ere they were.
‘I’d put wooden rails across the access to public footpath in case cattle happened to get into that field and only checked recently.
‘But on checking after getting [the] cattle back, they had all been smashed off and thrown into [a] field.
He added: ‘I’d just like to thank police and others that helped and thankfully no one hurt and no property damaged.’
People leapt to his defence with one saying: ‘Defo not your fault. Your [sic] a great farmer who I have known many many years.
The cow then starts to saunter back towards traffic as vehicles come to a crawl along the motorway
The woman carries on filming as the cow walks past their car. A man’s voice can then be heard saying: ”S***e. Excuse my language’
A driver of another vehicle is forced to swerve out of the way. The incident caused major delays on the motorway which at point forced emergency services to close the carriageway
‘And you do everything for ur live stock. Hope u got all the cows back.’
Residents who saw the video of the cow dicing with death on the motorway joked about the incident on social media.
One wrote: ‘Udderly ridiculous that a cow should be allowed to get on the motorway. It’s playing a high steaks game of life and death!
‘Highways agency at fault here.. I have no beef with the farmer.’
Another added: ‘Cars need to MOOOVE OVER.’
Earlier this month the MailOnline reported the terrifying moment a cow fell from a lorry and into the path of traffic travelling at 70mph on the M6 in north west England.
Dash cam footage of the incident shows the cow falling on the road and skidding towards oncoming traffic, forcing drivers to take evasive action and eventually causing one lorry to stop in the middle of the motorway.
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