A teenaged horse rider was left badly shaken when a driver deliberately passed too closely, clipping her and her horse.
Sixteen-year-old Jo McCormac and her horse Dubh were struck by the wing mirror of one of two vans which had purposefully driven past repeatedly while she was riding in Mill Lane, in Whitfield, last Saturday.
The white vans had sped up as she approached while out on an afternoon ride and then turned round to come past her several times. Dubh was spooked by the vehicles, spinning round in the road and trying to head for home.
Jo’s mum, Jenny McCormac condemned the drivers’ actions. She said: “They were trying to scare her as a prank.It is one thing to come up quickly and not see somebody but it is another thing to do something like that deliberately. It is very immature and very dangerous.”
She added either Dubh or Jo could have been seriously hurt if Dubh had been frightened into rearing up and unseating her rider.
The incident has shaken Jo’s confidence and she now prefers to ride on private bridleways rather than using public roads.
She said: “I was hanging on for my life. She [Dubh] was going mental. I was angry and scared. I got off and walked home as she was kicking out at cars after that.”
Unfortunately Jo was too shocked to take down the drivers’ number plates so the police have been unable to follow-up the incident. Officers advised the family to take down the details if they saw the vehicles again.
Tha family, who live in Brackley, have not experience this kind of behaviour before but have decided not to use that particular road in future.
Mrs McCormac said: “Most motorists are considerate in general. We have certainly not had that sort of thing happen in the past. You just get those few who think it is a fun game.”