- Drivers on the M6 northbound near Wednesbury, West Midlands, swerved to dodge the cow as it – and another of its herd – tumbled off a lorry as it hurtled along the road
This is the terrifying moment a cow fell off the back of a moving lorry and into live traffic on a busy motorway.
The animal dropped onto the inside lane near junction nine on the M6 in the north west of England, almost colliding with oncoming cars travelling at 70mph, at just before 10am yesterday.
Police say another cow also broke free two miles away and the motorway was closed for around 90 minutes between junctions seven and ten.
The Central Motorway Police Group (CMPG) said on Twitter the cows were ‘injured’, although the extent of the injuries is unclear.
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.
Kevin Rogers, 52, who recorded the footage from his vehicle, was on his way to an auction when the bizarre incident unfolded in front of him.
He said: ‘The cow fell out the bottom of the lorry, the lorry next to it moved and I moved out the way. ‘I was the first car coming head-on to it and I managed to miss it.
‘Definitely only one cow fell out the lorry but reports read that there were two cows.
‘I think the floor gave way on the bottom and when [the lorry] pulled over another cow came out.
‘You don’t see that every day – my first thought was not to hit it. I didn’t see it fall out the lorry so the first I saw was her sprawling on the road.
‘Thankfully I could swerve onto the hard shoulder to get around it.
‘It was a complete surprise. When I safely could I messaged my wife and said “I’ve nearly been hit by a falling cow on the motorway”. ‘She didn’t believe me. I can’t think why.’
The CMPG said on Twitter initially: ‘CLOSED. M6 j 10 to j 7 and m6 j7 to j10 is closed.. Further updates will follow. Please avoid the area where possible.
‘We have two injured cows in the carriageway two miles apart that have fallen from a lorry.
‘Both sb and nb closed whilst we try get the injured cows off the motorway safely. Last thing we want is for them to bolt into moving traffic.’
A follow-up tweet then said: ‘Big thank you to the lorry drivers who stopped to help contain the cows as well as @HighwaysWMIDS @Trafficwmp @firearmsWMP.
‘Big thank you to Whitewell Logisitcs Ltd who was in the trapped traffic and offered to help move cows off the carriageway.’
