TWO cows destined for the slaughterhouse gave hundreds of rush-hour motorists a shock when they made a bid for freedom.

The two cows escaped on Wednesday, on to the A1 after the trailer they were travelling in tipped over.

Traffic ground to a halt just south of the Chester-le-Street interchange at around 7.15am, as the animals sauntered back and forth across both the north and southbound carriageways.

Northbound drivers were stuck in traffic jams up to seven miles long.

Several motorists left their cars and spent 15 minutes chasing the cows up the embankment and into a nearby field.

The pair, a Belgian Blue and a Friesian, both aged 30 months, enjoyed several hours of freedom.

A police 4x4 vehicle moved the vehicle and trailer on to the hard shoulder, and traffic was moving freely again within half and hour.

The cows belonged to a farming family of Piercebridge, near Darlington, and were being transported to a slaughterhouse in Whitley Bay, North Tyneside.

A police spokesman said: "The farmer was travelling north in a Range Rover.

"He was driving relatively slowly when he was overtaken by a large lorry. The slipstream seems to have buffeted the trailer, which unsettled the two cows.

"Collectively they weigh more than a tonne, and their movement flipped the trailer and then the Range Rover.

"Other drivers herded them off the motorway and into a field. Once they were safely corralled, they were left to their own devices, and were eating grass, oblivious to the chaos they had caused."

The Range Rover driver suffered slight head and facial injuries and was taken to Durham's University Hospital.

The cows have been granted a stay of execution. The police spokesman said: "They have been given a reprieve and taken to another farm to make sure they suffered no ill effects. Once that is established, they will be slaughtered."