Police rescue swan blocking major road in Hampshire

Officers wrapped the bird in a police jacket to carry it to safety in Basingstoke

A swan was rescued by police in Basingstoke after it blocked a major road (@HCResponseCops)

Police have rescued a swan that was blocking a major road in Hampshire.

Officers wrapped the large bird in a high visibility police jacket as they carried it to safety.

It was spotted on Basingstoke’s Ringway South as the first post-Christmas rush hour got underway on Thursday.

Hampshire Police said the incident had caused traffic to build up.

“Apologies for the traffic on Ringway South in Basingstoke this morning,” a tweet said.

“SC (Special Constable) Armstrong and PC Walton we’re dealing with getting a swan safely off the road.”

Hampshire Police’s response team referenced the comedy film Hot Fuzz, where Simon Pegg and Nick Frost played police officers struggled to catch an escaped swan before local crime took a darker turn.

It was not immediately clear how the Basingstoke swan had come to be in the road.

Hours later, another swan blocked the A370 near Bristol. Local reports said the bird was rescued by police and handed over to a wildlife charity.

Wild unmarked mute swans belong to the Queen in Britain, meaning that stealing, injuring or killing the birds can amount to criminal offences.

Until, 1998 killing or maiming a swan was classed as treason under an ancient law dating back to the 12th century.

In 2014, a man was fined for beheading and eating a swan he caught in Kent.

“I didn't know the Queen owned them,” he said after admitting killing a wild bird. “I did not realise it was wrong.”

Two years later, a farmer was prosecuted for battering two swans to death with a shepherd’s crook after being caught on camera by a coastguard helicopter.