Horses injured in M4 accident

Two lanes of the motorway had to be closed and tailbacks quickly built up as police had to create an area for the animals to be treated.

The horses were then loaded into another box.

The accident happened shortly before 9am on yesterday just east of Swindon's junction 15.

The horsebox was being towed by a Land Rover along the westbound carriageway at the time.

The occupants of the Land Rover, from the Southampton area, were uninjured.

It is thought that they were taking the horses to a competition.

Police officers investigating the incident believe a tyre blew out on the trailer.

As the Land Rover went into the hard shoulder, the horsebox toppled over leaving one of the horses with a cut on its leg.

The Land Rover remained upright.

PC Gary Rosier, of Swindon traffic police, one of the officers on the scene, said: "We closed off two lanes of traffic and the horses were surprisingly calm when you consider what they had just been through.

"They were being calmed by their owners and the traffic did not seem to bother them.

"They were treated by the vets at the scene and then put into another horsebox."

Highways Agency officers did their best to keep the traffic moving and put down cones and signs.

Within an hour and a half the horses had been taken away, the scene cleared, and the congestion began to ease.

As previously reported, the M4 near Swindon has been rated among the safest in the UK following a survey by the AA Motoring Trust.

It found the motorway between Swindon and Bristol was in the low risk category.

Between Swindon and London it joined the A-roads in being low to medium risk to the west of Reading.

Shortly before yesterday's incident another accident caused chaos on Wootton Bassett Road in Swindon at the height of rush hour.

Police attended the incident just before 8.30am and warned motorists of tailbacks.

Few details about the accident are known but it is understood that no-one was injured.