A giant octopus caused chaos for London commuters this morning as the truck carrying it appear to break down in the middle of Oxford Circus.

Transport for London warned motorists to 'approach with care', presumably lest they be ensnared by its writing tentacles and pulled into the briny deep, fore'er to haunt Davy Jones' Locker.

Aaar.

Bemused Londoners tweeted a steady stream of octo-snaps, but no light was shed on where the cephalod came from, where it was going, or indeed whether it had any demands.

If you're going to break down in the middle of Oxford Circus you may as well do it in style! pic.twitter.com/6GdBmJNQTI — Katharine Carpenter (@KateACarpenter) June 3, 2014

According to The Independent, the mischievous mollusc may form part of an as-yet unidentified promo for the World Cup, although what it could possibly have to do with a soccer tournament in Brazil is beyond us.

One PR blogger, after a bit of detective work, said it was destined for Betfair, which leads us to think that the reasons for its breaking down in the middle of central London might have less to to with mechanical issues and more to do with free publicity.

Eventually the tentacled traffic-menace was moved out of the way.

But not before its appearance prompted some searching questions about reality, existentialism and the meaning of it all.

Neither do we, India.

Well that's all right then.