A runaway elephant caused chaos as it charged along a busy road in Thailand.

The jumbo was startled by the sound of car horns in front of the Elephant Care Park in Phuket and broke free from its enclosure on Thursday morning.

Shocked locals watched as the bull passed by a construction site where its neck was snagged with scaffolding. It then rampaged towards a school was was seen on a dashcam running by parked cars.

CCTV footage shows the frantic jumbo with the metal equipment hanging from its neck. It tried to shake the scaffolding off but, without success, walked against traffic.

Elephant Care Park manager Nattapong Chupak, 30, said: 'The elephant was scared of the horns from vehicles during the morning rush hour. It went out and tried to head for the school before the scaffolding became stuck.'

The elephant blocked one lane while drivers in the other lane backed away as it approached them. It hit several cars with the scaffolding, leaving them damaged, although no one was hurt.

Elephant caretakers and local police closed roads while they scrambled to catch the loose animal. The park manager added they requested vets to be tranquilised, but it was too dangerous.

He said: 'The elephant was in a panic state. It was too dangerous to approach.'

The mahouts followed the runaway elephant to a nearby canal, where it stopped and cooled off in the water following its run in the 34C temperatures. The mahouts then returned the unarmed elephant to the park.

Police in the Choeng Thale district said they would visit the elephant park to check safety measures and warn the owners not to allow elephants to escape again.

Thailand has an estimated 4,000 elephants in captivity. They are put to work in the logging industry, tourism resorts or kept privately for use at religious events and rituals.