VIDEO: Driving instructor stops traffic on busy Notts road - to help family of ducklings cross
Stu Walker, 52, spotted the six ducklings waddling in the fast lane as he taught a student on Tuesday afternoon.
As traffic slowed to avoid the birds, Stu leapt out of the car and sprinted across the road while holding his hand up to stop the traffic on the busy A453 in Nottingham.
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Hide AdAfter several attempts to ‘shoo’ the ducks onto the grass verge, he eventually picked them and carried them over the 60mph limit road to safety.
The dad-of-two, who runs Udidit driving school in Wilford, Notts., is then seen jogging back to his Ford Fiesta before continuing with the lesson.
Since uploading footage of the rescue to YouTube, it has been viewed and shared more than 1,000 times worldwide.
He said: "I've seen a lot of things in my time as a driving instructor but I’ve never seen a road come to stop because of a bunch of ducklings.
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Hide Ad"It’s a really busy carriageway and some people really go fast down it.
"It happened on Tuesday at around 1.20pm when I was in the middle of a lesson.
"We noticed there was traffic building up and slowing down.
"As we got closer I saw that it was a bunch of baby ducks that was causing all this trouble.
"They were bunched together in the right hand lane and cars were indicating to come into our lane to drive around them.
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Hide Ad"I did think about my own safety first of all, but I thought about all the risks and safety issues before making my judgement.
"My pupil was happy to stop and put the hand brake on while I got out to help the ducklings cross the road.
"There is farmland on the left of the carriageway I think they might have come from there, so that’s why I put them over there.
"I didn’t want to move them too far because then their parents might not have been able to find them.
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Hide Ad"If I left them on the road then who knows what would’ve happened they could’ve been killed or caused an accident.
"I know people will say what I did was dangerous but at the same time traffic was slow and I had already done my risk assessment before getting out.
"We driving instructors constantly think about safety, whether it’s our own or that of others.
"I put the video up on Facebook and Youtube and a lot of the comments have been positive, with people saying I did a good thing.
"I didn’t want to put myself in danger nor anyone else or the ducklings so that’s why I did what I did.
"As we say in the driving instructor business – safety first."