Police called about a pair of feet protruding from a roll of carpet in a car were relieved to find they belonged to a mannequin dressed as Prince Charming.

The driver of the vehicle, who was taking the dummy to a themed birthday party, was given “advice… to avoid such circumstances occurring again”, Cambridgeshire Police said.

The force said in a social media post: “When we received a call on Saturday lunchtime to reports a vehicle was travelling along the M11 with a pair of feet poking out the end of a rolled up piece of carpet, alarm bells were naturally ringing for the informant and our control room.

“We managed to track the vehicle down in Angel Drove, Ely, where our officers discovered there was indeed a pair of feet… belonging to a mannequin dressed as Prince Charming who was on his way to a themed birthday!

“Advice was given to the driver to avoid such circumstances occurring again!

“Thankfully this was a false alarm.”