In a knowing reference to the comedy film, police said a ‘brave’ officer had rescued ‘just the one swan’
06:32, 17 Jan 2026Updated 10:04, 17 Jan 2026
The swan settles into the back seat of a police vehicle before being escorted to back to water(Image: NWP South Flintshire)
Police played out a scene from a classic British comedy when detaining a “large and angry swan” in Flintshire.
With a knowing nod to Hot Fuzz, a North Wales Police (NWP) officer replicated an iconic moment from the 2007 movie by bundling the bird into the back of his car.
In a social media post, the NWP South Flintshire team shared a photo of the swan making itself comfortable on the back seat. A spokesperson said: “We don’t just catch criminals, sometimes we catch extremely large and angry swans.
“Neighbourhood Sergeant Rowley was very brave, caught the swan and released it back into the water.” The post was given the hashtag #Itsjusttheoneswan – a tongue-in-cheek reference to a famous line from the buddy cop comedy staring Simon Pegg and Nick Frost.
In Hot Fuzz, swans were a recurring symbol of the mundane and often absurd nature of rural policing.
The film’s hapless police hunt for a runaway swan is often cited as one of the funniest episodes in British movies of the past 20 years. The North Wales Live Whatsapp community for top stories and breaking news is live now – here’s how to sign up
It’s not known if Sgt Rowley – like Simon Pegg’s character – first established a witness description of the offender…. “about 2ft tall with a long slender neck and an orange and black bill”.
Nick Frost and Simon Pegg on a wild swan chase in Hot Fuzz(Image: Hot Fuzz)
But last night’s scene (Friday, January 17) caused hilarity amongst passing motorists. Online, a Buckley woman said it must have been “the swan police we rode past earlier lol.”
A man from Mold said he’d also seen an officer with a swan. “I was absolutely howling driving past,” he said.
To avoid confusion, users echoed the police by clarifying they must have seen “just the one swan actually”.
References to Hot Fuzz are irresistible on the occasions police are called to deal with unruly swans on the run.
In October 2023, three officers used a police jacket to usher a swan from Bath town centre and back to the River Avon.
Two years earlier, police apprehended an angry swan for blocking traffic on the A428 in Cambridgeshire, giving it a ride in their car to the nearest water.
All these incidents gave the lie to another classic Hot Fuzz line, “No luck catching them swans then?” Sign up for the North Wales Live newsletter sent twice daily to your inbox
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