{"id":701891,"date":"2026-01-17T10:23:18","date_gmt":"2026-01-17T10:23:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/701891\/"},"modified":"2026-01-17T10:23:18","modified_gmt":"2026-01-17T10:23:18","slug":"drivers-howl-as-large-and-angry-swan-bundled-into-north-wales-police-car-hot-fuzz-style","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/701891\/","title":{"rendered":"Drivers howl as \u2018large and angry\u2019 swan bundled into North Wales police car Hot Fuzz style"},"content":{"rendered":"

In a knowing reference to the comedy film, police said a ‘brave’ officer had rescued ‘just the one swan’<\/p>\n

06:32, 17 Jan 2026Updated 10:04, 17 Jan 2026<\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

The swan settles into the back seat of a police vehicle before being escorted to back to water(Image: NWP South Flintshire)<\/p>\n

Police played out a scene from a classic British comedy when detaining a \u201clarge and angry swan\u201d in Flintshire<\/a>.<\/p>\n

With a knowing nod to Hot Fuzz, a North Wales Police<\/a> (NWP) officer replicated an iconic moment from the 2007 movie by bundling the bird into the back of his car.<\/p>\n

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: \u201cWe don\u2019t just catch criminals, sometimes we catch extremely large and angry swans.<\/p>\n

“Neighbourhood Sergeant Rowley was very brave, caught the swan and released it back into the water.\u201d The post was given the hashtag #Itsjusttheoneswan \u2013 a tongue-in-cheek reference to a famous line from the buddy cop comedy staring Simon Pegg and Nick Frost.<\/p>\n

In Hot Fuzz, swans were a recurring symbol of the mundane and often absurd nature of rural policing.<\/p>\n

The film\u2019s 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\u2019s how to sign up<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

It\u2019s not known if Sgt Rowley \u2013 like Simon Pegg\u2019s character \u2013 first established a witness description of the offender…. \u201cabout 2ft tall with a long slender neck and an orange and black bill\u201d.<\/p>\n

\"Nick<\/p>\n

Nick Frost and Simon Pegg on a wild swan chase in Hot Fuzz(Image: Hot Fuzz)<\/p>\n

But last night’s scene (Friday, January 17) caused hilarity amongst passing motorists. Online, a Buckley<\/a> woman said it must have been \u201cthe swan police we rode past earlier lol.\u201d<\/p>\n

A man from Mold<\/a> said he\u2019d also seen an officer with a swan. \u201cI was absolutely howling driving past,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

To avoid confusion, users echoed the police by clarifying they must have seen \u201cjust the one swan actually\u201d.<\/p>\n

References to Hot Fuzz are irresistible on the occasions police are called to deal with unruly swans on the run.<\/p>\n

In October 2023, three officers used a police jacket to usher a swan from Bath town centre and back to the River Avon.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

All these incidents gave the lie to another classic Hot Fuzz line, \u201cNo luck catching them swans then?\u201d Sign up for the North Wales Live newsletter<\/a> sent twice daily to your inbox<\/strong><\/p>\n

Find out what’s happening near you<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"In a knowing reference to the comedy film, police said a ‘brave’ officer had rescued ‘just the one…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":701892,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5010],"tags":[748,54621,4884,23824,16,15,1764,10154],"class_list":{"0":"post-701891","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-wales","8":"tag-britain","9":"tag-flintshire","10":"tag-great-britain","11":"tag-north-wales-police","12":"tag-uk","13":"tag-united-kingdom","14":"tag-wales","15":"tag-wildlife-and-nature"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115909951870344052","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/701891","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=701891"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/701891\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/701892"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=701891"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=701891"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=701891"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}