Swan rescued from M18 after being spotted on hard shoulder during rush hour

A trio of traffic officers helped save a swan from the motorway after it was spotted strutting down the hard shoulder during rush hour.

Hollie Zmak, Patrick Jones and Jamie Ellison all launched a rescue operation after National Highways was alerted to the errant swan walking down the M18 near Doncaster at around 8.30am yesterday (Monday, September 18).

A roadblock was put in place before Hollie and Patrick, who crew together, were able to bring traffic to a standstill between junctions 3 and 4 and get to the swan on the southbound carriageway.

 The pair used a specialist swan bag to safely transport the bird away from the dangers of the road and then released it at a nearby lake.

Hollie said: “It was just waddling down the hard shoulder so we put a block on straight away.”

Patrick added: “We decided that behind the barrier was the best place to put it in the swan bag and it behaved so well.

“We placed him or her in the bag and put it in the back of our vehicle.”

Hollie said: “It was really chilled. It was just sat in the back of the vehicle ready to go to sleep."

Patrick added: “It was like another crew member. We took it to a lake and let it go. We gave it a stroke and it didn’t want to leave us.”

National Highways is the government-owned company responsible for modernising, maintaining and operating England’s motorways and major A roads.