THIRSTY motorists ditched their cars on a busy South African motorway to loot a beer truck that dropped thousands of bottles of cider and lager.

Putting their own lives at risk the drivers pulled over in their droves near Johannesburg when they saw hundreds of full crates somehow fall off the stricken lorry.

Seeing a chance to stock up for New Year’s Eve for free they brought traffic to a halt to fill their boots with loot.

The video posted on social media shows bottles littering the motorway slip road causing a sea of frothy beer on the tarmac.

Most of the tuck's load was Windhoek lager and Hunters Dry cider.

A traffic jam quickly develops as drivers and passengers dump their vehicles one behind the other to grab whatever they can salvage before police arrived.

Many braved the broken glass with bare feet to rummage through the broken bottles.

Looters soon started going for the truck itself with the driver helpless to stop the beer thieves for fear of the mob turning on him and attacking him.

One minibus taxi even stops on the other side of the N1 highway and passengers stream out to run to the crash scene and return to their taxi with as much beer as they can carry.

A group in a red truck are seen busily loading as much beer as they can find unbroken into the back.

The man videoing the chaos provides a running commentary.

He laughs as he says: “Look what happens in South Africa! A truck went over spilling alcohol on the highway. All these punks are stealing it. Here is the truck. How to stop a highway!”

A South African Police Service spokesman said they were aware of the incident.