A DRIVER who is thought to have fallen ill at the wheel almost crashed into a police horsebox just moments before colliding into another vehicle.

Officers from the mounted unit were travelling on the M65 towards Nelson on Monday morning when they were almost crashed in to by an Audi.

Concerned about the way in which the car was being driven, officers called through to the tactical operations team for back up.

But just moments later the Audi crashed into another horsebox that was being driven on the motorway.

A police spokesman said: "En-route to Nelson today, our horse box was almost hit by this vehicle.

"We called for back up and followed the vehicle (as much as we could in our 55mph horsebox) along from junction 9 m65 to its end at junction 14, then back to junction 12 where it collided with a civilian horse box.

"Luckily no one was injured (including horses) and at this time it’s believed that the driver had taken ill.

"We were assisted by our Tacops colleagues who dealing with the driver and enquires are ongoing. Thankfully this was a happy ending as it could have been a different story. #oneteam @lancstacops @lancspolice"