Cows caused slow moo-ving traffic after they escaped from a field and stood in a road.

Drivers hit their horns and were forced to swerve to avoid the black and white mammals after they broke ranks and twice took a trip in rush-hour traffic.

The heifers moved to pastures new after getting through a broken fence surrounding their field, off Colchester's Avenue of Remembrance.

But the grass did not prove greener after the pair were moved on by police officers.

"Police were called to an animal-related incident at about 3.50pm on Wednesday and arrived to find a cow in the road heading towards the town centre on the Avenue of Remembrance," a police spokesman said.

"It caused traffic chaos but the officers managed to get the cow back through a kissing gate.

"It happened again the following morning at about 8am, near Sheepen Road, near to where the circus was. The council informed the owners of the field and it's thought there had been damage caused to the fence."

It's not the first time cows have hit the headlines in recent months. Last August, the Gazette reported the county's cows could be mooing with an Essex accent.

Speaking to the paper last year, Essex livestock expert Alistair Johnson, said the animals spot the difference between family members in the herd by their "moo".