A horse walks on to a bus...
A STRAY horse that found itself lost on a busy dual carriageway rode to safety – by catching a bus.
The animal startled motorists as it wandered on the A48 in Cardiff at about 6.30pm on Thursday.
But after being rounded up by passers-by it was coaxed on to a passing bus and driven away.
one of the rescuers, Harley Stephens, said: ‘It was crazy. I still can’t believe it.’
She and a friend had been driving home when they saw the horse by the central reservation in fast traffic, she told BBC Wales.
They managed to stop the traffic and calm the frightened animal with the help of other passers-by and then a single-decker operated by Cardiff Bus stopped.
‘The police arrived and we were all a bit flummoxed about what to do because we couldn’t get a horse box there in time,’ she said. ‘So the Cardiff Bus driver said, “Why don’t we just put it on the bus?”
‘ We popped the accessibility ramps down on the bus and I just trotted the horse on the bus and he seemed quite happy.’
With one other passenger sitting close by, she accompanied the horse to a park and ride stop for a nearby hospital. ‘He was quite chill about it,’ she said. There someone said they would help to reunite it with its owner but not before Miss Stephens said her goodbyes and had photos taken.
‘He had a nice little five-minute drive on the bus,’ she added. ‘The police officer said, “I need to take photos as I don’t think anyone will believe me”.’
South Wales Police said the horse was collected by its owners at around 8pm after being contacted by the local horse warden.
The force tweeted: ‘A loose horse on the “mane” A48 eastern Ave decided it wanted to “stirrup” a little trouble but in doing so it risked falling “foal” of the law.’
Cardiff Bus said: ‘The bus is back in its stable, but awaiting a clean.’
Two weeks ago a horse ended up inside a car after climbing on the bonnet and collapsing through the windscreen. Fortunately neither horse nor driver were seriously hurt in the incident in Puerto rico.