A driver was lucky to escape with minor injuries after crashing his car while trying to avoid a fox on the M56 .

The male, aged 34, was taken to Warrington General Hospital following the single vehicle collision which saw the white Hyundai leave the road near junction nine about 7.20pm on Sunday (December 11).

Inspector Neil Anson of North West Motorway Police said the driver disclosed that he swerved as a result of a fox running into the path of the car although there was no independent evidence either way. He was conveyed to hospital as a precautionary measure.

Inspector Anson said the advice for drivers under such circumstances was set out in the Highway Code.

He said: “From my recollection, the advice is not to swerve, to consider braking, but not to endanger their own life or that of other people as a result of an animal.

"We are a nation of animal lovers so instinctively that’s not what we do but what we don’t want to see is a member of the public seriously injured or even worse as a result of an animal running into their path. It’s not always a popular thing to say but human life has to come before animal life.”

Last month alone stray animals on the M56 near Chester included a swan, a dog and even a donkey.