A HORSE was killed after it bolted into the A370 and hit a car carrying a mother and her child near East Brent last week.

Donna Richards, of Popham Close, East Brent, was driving back from Weston on October 30 when the horse ran from a field by the roadside and collided with the car.

Although neither Miss Richards or her 10-year-old son Gino suffered any serious injuries, the horse was killed instantly, and the car, an Audi S4, has been written off due to the severe damage the collision caused.

Donna said: “It was just after the sign for East Brent came up, at the bend in the road. I didn’t have time to do anything, there was just a blur of brown, the impact, the windscreen caving in and the airbags coming up.

“The impact was so strong that the car was actually bent in the middle. The radiator was pushed into the engine, and the whole front and left-hand side of the car, which is where my son was sitting, were caved in by the force of the impact.

“It’s lucky I was driving a powerful car, as who knows what might have happened if it had been a smaller one.

“But because the horse was uninsured, I’m a bit stuck with regards to my insurance pay-out.

“It was a big shock and my son is still a bit distressed by it all. I’m quite resigned to the fact that I won’t be financially compensated for this, but it’s all very sad that the owners took in this horse and it died like this.”

The horse’s owner, Mark Horton, of Churchlands Farm, Bason Bridge, said: “I found the horse a couple of weeks ago when it was wandering around a lane.

“When I heard about what had happened I wanted to know if the woman and her child were OK. The horse was the least of my worries.”

PC Stephen Bardi, who attended the scene from Burnham Police Station said: “When we got there the horse was lying in the verge, but luckily the traffic was quite easy to control.

“We are currently still investigating the incident.”

The incident comes just a week after two horses were killed in a road collision on the A370 at Hewish.