two of the lads from the stables where my wife keeps her horse was out walking one of the horses today long lining it to get used to walking on the road.

A car came flying down the road and went straight into the horse driving at about 60 to 70 MPH.

Hoprse went straight up into the air and smashed down on the car and was killed. The car drove off and the two lads who had to jump out of the way ran after the car and forced it to stop. They said you have just killed my horse to which the woman driver said, "Fook your horse what about my car".

The police were called turned out to be a normal plod. The woman said she could not see the horse because the sun was in her eyes that is why she hit it. There were no skid marks, she made no attempt to brake and the two lads only survived because they let go of the horse and jumped out of the way. ( the road was apparently covered in blood)

The police officer then blamed the two lads and told them, " it is your fault because you should not have a horse on the road". ( it is an area full of horses and carts that go down the roads as their are loads of farms and stables in the area).

The copper let the woman go, took no details, made no enquiries and seems to have taken no further action.

My view is that if she could not see she should not have been drivinig and that it is her fault. She could quite easily have wiped out two 17 year old lads if they did not jump out of the way.

anyone got any advice on what to do

Not really anything to do with you, is it?

In general though, I am 100% with you that it was the car drivers fault. "I didn't see the horse because the sun was in my eyes" is a pathetically lame excuse that no one would buy. The truth is that she was driving too fast and ended up killing a horse because of it.

I think I would be talking with the stable lads and the horse owner and pushing for a written complaint to be made against the officer who responded to the initial complaint and requesting that an officer with a brain properly questions the car driver with a view to a dangerous driving charge. The only reason she didn't kill two lads was because they jumped out of the way. It is moronic BS to say that the horse should not have been there. It could have been a horse with a 15 year old rider, it could have been a broken down vehicle, it could have been someone who had suffered a heart attack and fallen into the road.



That has surely got to be wrong. An accident has taken place that resulted in the death of a large animal and nearly caused the deaths of two people. He simply had to run her details to check that she was a qualified driver and her car was taxed and insured.

What about a breath test?

sounds dodgy, track down that copper and get complaining to everyone above him.

Go with this.

And if he turns out to be related to the driver then I will register no surprise.

Setting that aside did they get the drivers details, number plate etc, did they take note of the inept plod's number, did they give their names and the address of the stables, if "no" to each question then there is some karma to be had here for when the woman approaches the stables to demand insurance details for the damage to her car they could simply tell her that none of their horses have been killed recently.

Why would you walk a horse on a long line, out on a public road? Common sense would suggest one rider in the saddle and another walking alongside holding the bridle. And the phrase "two lads" doesn't fill me with a great deal of confidence either.



My first reaction to that statement is, if the car was really going at those speeds then the horse would not have landed on top of it! She then drove off.....presumably at the same speed?.....but the two stable boys were able to chase after her and stop her!!! Usain Bolt must be a tad worried.The first questions I would be asking, how wide is the road/sightlines/any high hedges etc, but perhaps crucially, just what was the position of the horse and the two stable lads on it


What were you expecting.....The Flying Squad....an Armed Response Vehicle..... Inspector Morse?



Of course he took details of the incident from everyone there, and will have submitted a report later. Whether further action is taken against anyone is not down to the local plod. From his initial response, I would think he is formed the opinion that being blinded by the sun is a perfectly viable reason for not seeing the horse, and the lack of skid marks would tend to support this. Which leaves us with his accusation that blame lies with the two stable lads.....perhaps you are only reporting half the tale....and what Plod actually said was they shouldn't have been in that position on the road with a horse not under proper control?



My view is that speculation is never accepted as evidence.

And in any case, horses, like cyclists are a menace, and really shouldn't be out and about on the Queen's Highway. Confine both to grass fields, and the World would be a happier place.

And my view is that we can safely ignore all the guff posted by you above

Out of order there!! You know he is dead. Poor form, very poor.

Cracking piece of RLFans tedry there.

Someone who wasn't there, didn't see the incident and has no knowledge of the incident whatsoever tells the person who did see it, what actually happened.

Lads? Like stable lads? FFS.

Nothing about Durham Giants post says that he actually witnessed any part of the incident.

I'd adapt it to read as ...
"[iSomeone who wasn't there, didn't see the incident, has no first-hand knowledge of the incident whatsoever and speculates wildly based on second-hand knowledge that he doesn't believe anyway ... then tells us that speculation is inadmissible[/i".

no but i have had two first hand accounts, seen the dead horse and pictures of the scene

so are your insurers covering the damage caused by that horse shaped tree that fell out the sky you told them about?

That, among other comments, particularly made me titter. We've got "lads" round here that are in their seventies

The alleged police comments are unbelievable. If events happened as reported the driver was evidently failing to drive with due care and attention. But, if the car hit the horse at 60-70mph and just carried on how did the lads, who were presumably taken by surprise and confused manage to run an catch up with the car? What was the speed limit - was ih national limit - if so what were the lads doing with the horses on the road? If not and there were warnings about horses, why did the police say what they are alleged to? All seems odd to me.

Horses are allowed on a road with a derestricted limit, as far as I know are allowed on any road except a motorway.

Anybody is entitled on any public road, anywhere, any time*.

Every driver must drive at such a speed that he can stop safely within the distance he can see to be clear.

It really is as simple as that.


* [size=85Obviously subject to legal restrictions, eg motorways etc., but none seem to apply here[/size

Hang on. She hits a horse at 60mph and it flies in the air, crashes down on her vehicle and she just drives off? A bloke at work once collided with a deer and it made a right mess of his motor. Sounds iffy to me!

Bearing in mind the exageration in speed is to be expected, as it's been repeatedly shown that people cannot estimate speeds of a vehicle when being prewarned that is what they are being asked to do, there is no chance when it's 'sudden', the whole issue here seems to boil down the the womans driving technique.

Imagine that it hadn't been a horse, but that it had been a pedestrian walking along the road. The woman would have had even less chance of seeing them, and would have had even less damage inflicted on their car.

To me, it boils down to her driving at an inappropriate speeds. Simple as that.

Driving without due care and attention.

If you're not getting any response from Plod, report the death of the Horse to the RSPCA.

They'll probably take up the case, and have a reputation for (pardon the pun) not letting go once they get their teeth into something.

Whilst the driver could be accused of a lot of things, cruelty to horses ain't one of 'em. You're flogging a dead horse with this one.

What did he do about the dead horse in the road?

He can't have just wandered off and left it for others to sort out, surely?

I should imagine shifting it would have been childs play for the lads who ran after the car driving at about 60 to 70 MPH and forced it to stop.

It wouldn't be the driver who was subject to the complaint. The complaint would be against the police officer for not following up a clear case of dangerous driving because it was just a horse that got killed.