Police And Firemen Get Cold Turkey

Flipping the bird was given a new meaning in Austria this week when a truck filled with plucked turkeys overturned, closing a busy motorway in the process.

The accident happened on the main Austrian motorway – the A1 – that runs from the city of Salzburg to the capital Vienna and happened close to the monastery town of Melk during rush hour traffic.

Police spokesman Alexander Durr said: “The lorry blocked a lot of the road and the rest of it was blocked by 20 tonnes of turkey meat. It all had to be moved before traffic could continue to flow and then disposed of.”

He said that all of the turkey was unusable for anything because the diesel fuel had leaked from the lorry across the road ruining the meat for consumption and meaning it needed to be disposed of in an incinerator.

He added: “The diesel also needed to be cleaned off the road before the traffic could continue.”

Police are currently investigating what caused the lorry to turn over and are interviewing the driver to find out who was to blame.

Franz Resperger, spokesperson for the fire department, said that it took three fire engines with 40 men and a heavy crane to move the lorry off the motorway and clear up all the turkey.