Drama in Shepherd’s Bush when a Runaway Horse Bolted towards Askew Road

The following article appeared in the Dundee Evening Telegraph on 14th March 1930:

‘Using a commandeered motor car, P.C. Leslie B Warren, of the Metropolitan Police, chased and stopped a runaway horse at Shepherd’s Bush.

The horse, which was attached to a dairy van, bolted while in Cobbold Road and made off towards Askew Road.

The constable attempted to check it as it passed him, but failed. Calling a passing motorist to his aid, Police Constable Warren sprang on the footboard and gave chase.

In Askew Road the horse slipped its bridle and rushed on. When the car drew level with the runaway, Police Constable Warren sprang at its head, and catching it by the ears, managed to force it into the kerb, where the van collided with a stationary cycle.

Still hanging on to the horse’s ears, the constable was able to bring it to a standstill.

Damage was done to the van and the cycle, but neither the horse nor the constable was hurt.’

Steve Russell

(Thanks to Colin Woodley for sending me the newspaper article. The postcard is from my collection)

5 thoughts on “Drama in Shepherd’s Bush when a Runaway Horse Bolted towards Askew Road

  1. I’m amazed at what is basically that a local news story and therefore not of national importance should find itself in the Dundee Evening Telegraph.
    Maybe it was a slow news day in Dundee…!

  2. Just amazing to think that an incident that probably wouldn’t earn a second comment in this sad day and age is covered by a Dundee newspaper. Perhaps the Dundee editor realised that there was / is always something special about Shepherd’s Bush !

  3. Amazing that this minor news item was published in a Dundee newspaper!
    I like the old picture of the Askew Rd. On the left of the photo I am sure is the site where the future Kelmscott Gardens would be built.

  4. Yes it is Kerrins. When I moved there in about 1950 we were the first tenants in the one block to the rear of the site. The old buildings on the left of the picture were just cleared ground and remained so for several years.
    having spent the last few years having a daily session of finding everything Rs and West London online in the British Newspaper Archive site I can confirm that the non-London newspapers frequently copied London articles to pad out their newspapers. Fortunately us Kelmscott Gardens youngsters misdemeanours did not go national!

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