Moment horse riders accuse DPD driver of speeding up to pass them on narrow country lane in road rage row
- Horse rider Katherine Cooksley, 27, was out on her eight year old horse Garnet
- She and her riding partner Leigh Morris were passed by a DPD driver in his van
- She said the DPD driver allegedly ‘sped up’ when he saw the horses to get past
A DPD driver has been accused of ‘speeding up’ when he saw a pair of horse riders on a narrow country lane.
The van driver even beeped his horn as he sped past the riders outside Reading on Saturday afternoon.
Horse rider Katherine Cooksley, 27, was out on her horse Garnet, who is eight years old, with her riding partner Leigh Morris who was riding 18 year old horse Rohan.
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The van driver is seen beeping his horn as he drives down the road in a country lane in Reading on Saturday at 1.16pm
In the video, as the driver approaches her she is seen exclaiming: ‘F***’, ‘I mean it’s great that he’s beeping but that doesn’t help us’.
As he passes them in the narrow road, Ms Cooksley shouts to the DPD driver: ‘You wanna slow down- you’re on camera! You’re on camera mate, I’m reporting you’.
Ms Cooksley, who has has been riding horses since she was four years old, said: ‘My friend and I were hacking down the road and first thing we heard was the horn going.
‘And then we were like ‘What’s that?’ and the next thing you see is him come flying round the corner, you could hear the sound of his horn and I was giving an arm signal for him to slow down.
Horse rider Katherine Cooksley, 27, was out on her horse Garnet, who is eight years old, with her riding partner Leigh Morris who was riding 18 year old horse Rohan
She said: ‘I was asking him to slow down for the safety for us and the horses. He didn’t. If anything he sped up’
She says: ‘He had the window down on his van…. so we started vocally asking him to slow down and he just sped up and didn’t make any acknowledgement that we were there at all, he didn’t even look at us’.’
As he passes them in the narrow road, she shouts to the DPD driver: ‘You wanna slow down- you’re on camera! You’re on camera mate, I’m reporting you’
‘So it was very clear that I was asking him to slow down because the horses were on their toes, there was some shooting in the area.
‘So I was asking him to slow down for the safety for us and the horses. He didn’t. If anything he sped up.
‘He had the window down on his van…. so we started vocally asking him to slow down and he just sped up and didn’t make any acknowledgement that we were there at all, he didn’t even look at us’.
She said the incident was ‘pretty terrifying’ and said her horses were upset after the incident. She says they could have ended up seriously injured.
She said: ‘Horses have been recorded to spook sideways at about 50mph, so we could have ended up in front of the van, we could have ended up on the bonnet of the van; we could have ended up underneath the van and he wouldn’t have been able to stop in time because of the speed he was travelling at’.
‘He wouldn’t have been able to stop on time if the horses had spooked sideways into him, if we were spooked sideways we could have got thrown into the side of the van and so there is all manner of different things that could have happened’.
Both of the women were wearing air jackets at the time providing protection if they were to fall off.
Her father Rob Cooksley said he was shocked at the incident.
He said: ‘It’s not the first time she’s had close shaves like this but you don’t expect it from a driver of a reputable company’.
DPD has been contacted for comment by MailOnline.
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