Anger as horses invade Tyersal Park and football pitch (From Bradford Telegraph and Argus)

Anger as horses invade Tyersal Park and football pitch

7:00am Wednesday 3rd October 2012 in News By Kathie Griffiths, T&A Reporter

Escaped horses have invaded a popular Bradford park.

Residents living near Tyersal Park woke up to see about 25 to 30 of them had taken over the park and its football pitch, eating the grass and churning up the ground.

Police were alerted and about one hour later, according to neighbours, the park was finally cleared with the horses being returned safely to their owner and back to their own field.

One resident, who did not want to be named, said: “It’s happened before but not for a while.

“I’m not sure where the horses went back to or where they came from but they made quite a mess of the football pitch which is a shame because there’s a club that’s only just started playing on it again.”

And he added: “Every neighbourhood forum we have, horses come up for discussion. People are fed up of them. The problem here is that we’re on the Leeds-Bradford border. The park is Leeds City Council’s responsibility and if we call the police, they come from Bradford.”

Police confirmed they were called to the park at about 12.30pm on Sunday after a call about the horses.

Another woman, who works at Tyersal Club, said escaped horses have been a regular occurrence in the area and there have been times when cleaners coming to open up the club have had to hide in people’s gardens until the horses have moved away.

Last year Tyersal ward councillors said they were frustrated by horses escaping on to the park and ruining it for other peoples enjoyment – a problem going back about five years.

Councillors believed the animals at that time were coming from a nearby stud farm, despite its owner disputing that – the Council’s enforcement team were notified.

A spokesman for Leeds City Council said its park officers were not aware of the incident but would be looking into it.