Bearing in mind he ’ s a dog , Don the border collie did a pretty good job yesterday of piloting a tractor across a motorway . To be fair , however , this probably wasn ’ t the first thought to strike rush-hour drivers as they watched him crash through a fence and come hurtling towards them . Like a scene from Wallace and Gromit , the intrepid sheepdog was at the controls when he sent the farm utility vehicle down a steep bank , on to the busy carriageway and into the central reservation barrier . Don 's owner Tom Hamilton ( pictured ) was tending to a lamb when the sheepdog took control by nudging the controls . The tractor smashed through a fence before ending up on the road . Don was unhurt in the ordeal but the incident caused major tailbacks . Despite considerable damage , Don escaped unhurt – but left scores of motorists wondering if they were imagining things . Traffic Scotland tweeted a bizarre warning that there may be hold-ups ‘ due to a dog taking control of tractor ’ , adding : ‘ Nope , not joking. ’ Appropriately , they couldn ’ t resist the hashtag : ‘ # maycausetailbacks ’ . Observers and Twitter commentators joined the pun fun by speculating : ‘ Police investigating – so far no leads ’ ; or the inevitable : ‘ This is barking. ’ The incident happened at junction 13 of the M74 , near Abington in South Lanarkshire . Sheep farmer Tom Hamilton was travelling across a field in the John Deere Gator farm vehicle with his companion in the passenger seat during their morning rounds . Behind the wheel : Don leaned on the controls of the tractor before driving it on to the M74 near Abington in South Lanarkshire during rush hour . The vehicle shot out of the field and crashed down a bank by the side of the road before colliding with the central reservation of the M74 near junction 13 northbound as shown by the red arrow . Moments after he got out of the vehicle , it took off with Don at the wheel . Safely back at nearby Kirkton Farm yesterday with Don at his side , Mr Hamilton explained : ‘ I was sorting out one of the lambs and hadn ’ t put the brake on . ‘ When I turned around I saw it racing towards the motorway . I ran after it but I couldn ’ t catch up. ’ Traffic Scotland tweeted the news that a dog had 'taken control of a tractor ' before adding , 'nope , not joking ' Officers cleared the motorway within half an hour and Don was reunited with his relieved owner at nearby Kirkton Farm . Remarkably , drivers managed to avoid the runaway vehicle before it came to crashing halt , and none was hurt . Nor did the black and white border collie ( a breed noted for its intelligence and obedience ) panic or flee in terror . ‘ He didn ’ t even bark , ’ Mr Hamilton said . Police said Don had set the vehicle in motion by inadvertently leaning on the controls . ‘ So far people seem to find it amusing , ’ Mr Hamilton said . ‘ But I think Don ’ s driving days are over. ’ Monty , a giant schnauzer cross , was pictured driving a mini down a race track in New Zealand in 2012 .
The bizarre incident happened on M74 near Abington in South Lanarkshire . Don leaned on controls of tractor taking it from a field on to the road . Incident caused tailbacks as police and the farmer recovered the vehicle . Sheepdog 's owner Tom Hamilton was tending to a lamb when drama unfolded .