A shocked private driver has told how an Army horse “smashed” into his car in central London raising part of it into the air.
The Mirror reports that there were chaotic scenes after seven Household Cavalry horses got loose with four soldiers thrown off them during an extended exercise in Belgravia on Wednesday 24 April.
Ambulance crews treated four people in three separate incidents in the space of ten minutes as the animals ran amok.
The drama began near Buckingham Palace Road where witnesses saw a serviceman thrown from his horse, and one of the loose animals smashing into a private hire vehicle waiting outside the Clermont Hotel, shattering the windows.
Farez, who was driving the PHV, has said how he had just dropped off a passenger when suddenly he was confronted by a horse that ran into the car and damaged it, but fortunately he was not harmed. The people carrier was left with large dents and shattered windows after the incident.
Farez did not see the horses and so was left “shocked” by the sudden impact and he believes that it was a white horse that was seen bloodied, that hit his car.
“I was just sitting in the car to pick up my passenger, but on the other side there was a [horse] but I didn't see. When the horse hit my car then I saw, it was like a smash,” he told LBC. “I was okay but it (the car) is damaged.”
He said how the force of the impact led to one side of the car being raised up.
He continued: “I saw about three, four horses, I think the white horse hit my car.”
It is understood that three Household Cavalry personnel have been assessed at hospital for their injuries, but they were not seriously hurt.
Two horses were seen running in the road near Aldwych, one of which appeared to be covered in blood, and later near the Limehouse tunnel, before they were recaptured by City of London Police.
A horse also crashed into a parked double-decker tour bus, smashing the windscreen.
Roland, a worker for tour bus company Tootbus, described the chaotic scenes near Victoria. "I saw horses come from the bus station in front of Victoria run around in a frenzy," he said. "People were running around to avoid them - it was total mayhem."
A second tour bus worker, named only as Mr Mahmood, said: "One of the horses bumped into a bus, then everything got out of control. I saw two horses without riders gallop away.
"One rider managed to calm his horse down. An ambulance went to assist another rider who had been injured."
An Army spokesperson said: "A number of military working horses became loose during routine exercise this morning. All of the horses have now been recovered and returned to camp. A number of personnel and horses have been injured and are receiving the appropriate medical attention."
Pictures and videos of two of the animals running loose around London were shared on social media, one of which showed a black 4x4 with blue lights following the horses between Tower Bridge and Limehouse tunnel.
Source: https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/taxi-drivers-shock-after-loose-32661128
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