ASTONISHED drivers crawling through rush-hour traffic watched themselves being overtaken ... by a hamster in its playball.
Treacle’s tiny legs were a blur as her plastic globe travelled faster and faster.
Afraid that the little rodent would run herself to death, Nick Smith leapt from his car and snatched her from the gutter.
Now Treacle is set to be reunited with her worried owner after news of her adventure spread around Carlisle.
Electrical engineer Nick, 50, from nearby Wreay, said: “I couldn’t believe what I was seeing – a hamster overtaking us in its plastic ball.
“It was quite happily trundling along but getting near to the verge and I thought it might roll out into the traffic.”
Several days later Nick was contacted by a family whose daughter had put the hamster into the exercise ball while she cleaned out its cage.
Treacle had somehow been able to escape through the front door and into the road.
