Scarecrow impersonating an officer

A scarecrow dressed to look like a traffic cop didn't go down too well with real police officers.

In fact they took the matter so seriously when they heard about it a patrol car on the way to the scene of a fatal crash was diverted to pay the scarecrow's owner, Christopher Strong, a visit.

And after ordering him to take it down, officers warned him that he could be accused of impersonating a policeman. Mr Strong, 58, dressed the one-legged straw dummy in a fluorescent yellow jacket from Halfords and a police hat from a joke shop for a village scarecrow competition.

He added a striped tie, epaulettes and a home-made badge reading "Scarecrow Traffic Policy'. His creation was completed with a speed gun fashioned from a ladies' hairdryer and a broken solar light from his garden.

But just a day after he propped the scarecrow on top of his privet hedge in the village of Mickle Trafford, near Chester, pointing its fake speed gun along the busy A56 main road in the hope it would deter motorists from speeding, he felt the full force of the law.

"It caused a real stir in the village," said Mr Strong. "The officers were rather brusque and told me they had received several complaints from motorists who thought it was a real police officer and that it could cause an accident if a car braked suddenly. I couldn't believe it. Then, perfectly seriously, they told me to remove the policeman's hat and the hairdryer camera or I may be accused of impersonating a police officer. I explained that it was a scarecrow in a competition with a head full of straw and one leg, but they were not in the least amused."