Border terrier Teasel is safely back at her home near Charlbury after being found on a motorway hard shoulder by a lorry driver heading for Kent.

Mrs Potter, with Teasel

Teasel was soon reunited with her owner Sarah Potter, as previously she had been microchipped for identification.

The 12-year-old dog went missing on December 4, when Mrs Potter took her for a walk with her three other border terriers on farmland where she lives.

"She's a bit geriatric and often comes back home after the others, but this time there was no sign of her and we went out looking without any success," Mrs Potter said.

"Later that evening we got a phone call from a vet's surgery near Chatham in Kent saying she had been brought to them by a lorry driver who had found her on the hard shoulder of a motorway.

"They didn't have any space to keep her so the lorry driver took her to a police station in Chatham.

"We can only suppose that someone picked her up near Charlbury, as border terriers are a very popular breed at the moment, but when they discovered she was elderly they decided to dump her.

"There's no other way to explain how she managed to get on the hard shoulder of a motorway.

"Unfortunately it seems the lorry driver did not leave his name with the police as we would like to say a big thank you to him."

Mrs Potter and her husband Nicholas picked Teasel up the next day.

Mrs Potter said it showed the importance of microchips.

"Unfortunately it seems the lorry driver did not leave his name with the police as we would like to say a big thank you to him," she added.