Call of nature when a swan meets the `Old Bill`

The top picture mirrors the scene from one of cinema`s most iconic police comedy films. And Gloucestershire could not have been a more appropriate location for the `latest action` that unfolded. The county was the setting for the iconic 2007 movie which was based around an imaginary village called Sandford and used in police training manuals. While Gloucester-born actor Simon Pegg and his sidekick Nick Frost weren`t available this time to capture the runaway swan, the task fell to two officers to enjoy a `real-life` Hot Fuzz moment. The two unnamed Gloucestershire Constabulary officers were left to answer the call of nature – when the bird landed on the M5. The elegant creature had caused chaos on Tuesday afternoon (February 14) by swooping down on the northbound carriageway of the motorway between junction 14 for Thornbury and 13 for Stroud in Gloucestershire. Without getting in a flap, the officers headed to the scene. Using a specialist swan carrier, they contained the animal before giving it a lift in the back of the patrol car – so recreating the original scene. This isn`t the first time the force has been involved in a Hot Fuzz episode. One Sunday last June, officers were called to a charity duck race in the village of Bourton-on-the-Water and found themselves involved in another scene which took its lead from the movie. Minutes after around 100 rubber ducks were launched into the River Windrush, a village resident called police. Officers were left to adjudicate on an ancient bylaw, which says the river and village green cannot be used on Sundays for fundraising purposes.