A DEER briefly forced the closure of East Lothian's busiest road on Thursday morning.

Police and the Scottish SPCA were called out after the animal was spotted in the central reservation of the A1 between the Oaktree and Gladsmuir junctions.

The initial call came in at about 8.30am before the decision was taken to close the road at about 10.10am.

Together, they managed to get the animal off the busy road, which was reopened minutes later.

Darren Malcolm, Scottish SPCA animal rescue officer, said: "We were alerted to a deer on the central reservation on the A1 at around 8.30am on Thursday.

"For health and safety reasons, the road had to be closed in both directions before we could attempt the rescue.

"If this hadn’t been done, not only would we put ourselves at risk but the deer could have run on to the road and caused a danger to human life as well as its own.

"When it was safe to do so, I approached the deer to examine him for any injuries and before I could get close, he got up and ran off in to the nearby woods.

"I’m pleased this happened as it showed he had no physical injuries.

"We would like to say thank you to Police Scotland and BEAR Scotland for their assistance with the rescue of the deer.

"If anyone spots an animal in need of our help, please call our animal helpline on 03000 999 999."