Truck containing 39 cows crashes onto its side on A606 near Melton

The vehicle had picked up the 39 cattle from the town’s livestock market and was taking them to Scotland.

Fire watch commander, Simon Lee, praised the response of the farming community and the vet as ‘absolutely outstanding’.

He told the Melton Times: “The lorry had overturned on to two parked vehicles and had also hit the wall of a cottage.

“There was nobody on the path or at the bus top at that time of day which was a real relief.”

The driver of the lorry was taken to hospital with minor injuries following the incident, which happened on a bend not far from the Tap and Run pub on Thursday.

The A606 was closed to traffic until 4.30pm as firefighters and the vet dealt with a distressing situation with the cattle in the stricken lorry.

Mr Lee added: “Sadly, the animals all had to be put down, some of them due to injuries in the crash and the others due to the stress they suffered.

“It was the most humane thing to do.

“It was a long, slow process with each animal weighing 700kg-plus.”

A heavy fire rescue vehicle from Newark and a technical rescue team also attended.