A delivery driver caught on video shouting at a horse rider near Dundee after she asked him to slow down has been suspended.
Joanna Taylor shared the video of the incident, which occurred near to her yard in Tealing, Dundee, during a hack with her horse.
The clip appears to show the driver, who has not been identified, shouting at Ms Taylor after she indicated that he should slow down.
“This man tried to pass us going about 60/70mph and when I waved my arm for him to slow down, he stopped his van, shouting and swearing at us saying that he was going the national speed limit,” she wrote online.
A representative for KPD, the delivery firm the driver was working for, told The Courier on Wednesday that the driver had been suspended while an investigation was carried out.
They also said they would contact Ms Taylor to offer her a gift by way of apology.
The horse rider used her post on social media to urge drivers to take care when they were approaching horses.
“It is absolutely never acceptable to pass horses on the road at that speed,” she wrote.
Drivers urged to slow down
“Please if you are driving past horses, slow right down, it only adds about 10 seconds on to your journey and could save a life.”
Her comments were echoed by the British Horse Society, who released a new survey showing equestrians in Scotland were experiencing “alarming” levels of stress and risk on the country’s roads.
Just 2% of riders in Scotland said they never felt stressed or anxious when using roads, while 44% said they did so more than half the time.
Horse riders report ‘alarming’ levels of stress on Scotland’s roads
Alan Hiscox, director of safety at The British Horse Society said: “We encourage all road users to be courteous and patient with one another whilst sharing the roads.
“It is vital to remember that horses are flight animals, and may move quickly away from what they perceive as a threat.
“We launched our ‘Dead Slow’ campaign in a bid to educate drivers on how to safely pass horses on the road.
Drivers should slow down to a maximum of 15mph when they see a horse on the road
Alan Hiscox, British Horse Society
“Drivers should slow down to a maximum of 15mph when they see a horse on the road, be patient and not sound their horn or rev the engine, overtaking only when it’s safe to do so, leaving at least a car’s width if possible and then drive slowly away.
“If riders are involved in an incident, whether that is a near miss or road rage, we urge them to report it to us at horseaccidents.org.uk, or through the ‘Horse i‘ app, as this allows us to get a great understanding of the scale of the issue and strengthens our voice when lobbying government.”
