To thousands of Scottish motorists, it appeared to be a mass re-enaction of an old joke. On the A80, Scotland’s main north-south artery, thousands of chickens were crossing the road.

For the chickens, it was much more serious. At 4.30am 3,000 of the birds were being transported from farm to slaughterhouse when the lorry carrying them overturned.

The driver sustained serious back injuries, four hundred birds died in the impact – or later from their injuries – but as dawn broke and the lorry lay on its side, thousands of chickens escaped from their crates and swarmed on to the road. Some sat on the verge, others took to the bushes, hundreds more milled around and pecked at the road and seemed uncertain what to make of their new-found freedom.

For the better part of the morning they brought a large chunk of Scotland to a standstill. The traffic tailback stretched five miles, alternative routes were gridlocked and the A80, the main route to Glasgow from Sterling, Perth and the north, was closed until after noon.

The scenes that followed seemed a cross between Chicken Run, the animated film based loosely on The Great Escape, and It Shouldn’t Happen to a Vet.

It certainly shouldn’t have happened to a police officer. The finest of the Central Scotland force were drafted in and spent five hours attempting to catch the birds. Their efforts were captured on the mobile phone cameras of scores of motorists. The police were not amused. A spokeswoman told The Times: “It is illegal to use a mobile phone while driving.” Officers had even noted down the registration numbers of the worst offenders, and 20 of them were to be charged. “Offenders will receive a fixed penalty of three points on their licenses and a £60 fine,” she said.

James Ireland, 43, a passer-by at the scene yesterday morning, said: “There were dead chickens all over the road, live chickens running about everywhere, and policeman and chicken catchers trying to grab them by the legs and put them into containers.

“The air was thick with feathers and policemen and chicken catchers, I’ve never seen anything like it.”

Vets began to arrive at 7am. At 9.30am the operation to recapture the chickens was stepped up, with the arrival of specialist chicken handlers from Noble Foods in Glenrothes.

By now many of the chickens appeared to have lost the will to keep on running. Catriona Ewan, a vet involved in the clear-up, said: “Most of them were huddling together, they’re not used to being out of doors. They were sitting calmly at the side of the road and some were starting to perch in the bushes.”

Ms Ewan estimated that she had put down up to 80 birds that had sustained broken wings and legs. She had hoped to minimise the suffering, although she could not help feeling that this effort was somewhat superfluous considering the life expectancy of the chickens – broilers that are slaughtered while still young and tender.

“They don’t have the best life as a result of being farmed and they were on their way to be killed anyway,” she said.

The survivors were eventually put back in their crates transported to a processing plant in Gainsborough.

On the run

–– The easiest way to catch a chicken is to do so in the dark. Poultry catchers grab the birds by its legs and put them in plastic drawers inside a metal crate. A team of catchers can catch 5,000 birds an hour, the usual consignment on one lorry

–– Trying to perform the same task in daylight is difficult. Chickens can see their catchers and also to escape from a drawer. They will run free wherever they can

–– The usual method is therefore to corral the birds gently with a piece of wood and guide them into a pen. Only in a real emergency would birds be caught by netting or blankets

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