FEATHERS flew early this morning after a lorry carrying 4,000 live chickens struck a shop after getting stuck in Holmfirth.

The impact has forced Kirkwood Hospice's charity shop in Victoria Square to close.

The lorry, from a local poultry firm, had driven down Rotcher Road at 12.30am and was trapped until 5.30am, when it was moved by heavy lifting gear.

The vehicle is understood to have been on its way to a slaughterhouse in Nottingham when the incident happened.

Mr Chris Samwell, a cobbler who works in a shop at the bottom of Rotcher Road, was called out by a neighbour at 12.30am.

He said: "There were 4,000 chickens and they were making a right stink. It was horrible."

The 18-wheel lorry became detached from the cab and the section with the chickens was balanced on a wall. The hospice shop was damaged by the top of the cab.

Lorraine Irving, of Cartworth Road, who runs the nearby Les Caveaux restaurant with husband Mark,

said: "I feel sorry for the driver. He has made a right mess."

Hospice shop manageress Liz Turner was called out at 1.15am. She said: "It's shut us down for the foreseeable future."

The chickens had been collected from Dunsley Poultry Farm. Co-owner Mrs Pat Sykes said: "The lorry took the wrong road, and once it got going there was no way it could turn round."