Conviction following Hampshire road collision which resulted in death of foal should send ‘stark message’, police say

This conviction is hoped to send a ‘stark message’ about road safety, said a county police constable.

Ben Hanlan, 22, was convicted after the Volkswagen Polo he was driving collided with a foal near Beaulieu Road between midnight on August 27 and 3.30am on August 28.

He then fled without reporting the incident to agisters – the people who look after ponies, cows, pigs, sheep and donkeys in the New Forest – or to the police.

The court heard Hanlan had believed that he had hit a deer at the time of the collision, but did not stop to determine these facts.

The injured pony was found by an agister the following day, having suffered two broken front legs as a result of the accident.

It is then thought that the pony continued to wander for several hours on the stumps of her bones.

The pony was dispatched humanely.

Hanlan, from Leeds, pleaded guilty to failing to report an accident and was disqualified from driving for six months and ordered to pay £85 court costs.

PC Matt Thelwell, wildlife and rural crime officer, said: ‘Sadly, this is an incident which was wholly avoidable, but resulted in a foal having to be euthanised due to the severity of its injuries.

‘The driver is lucky that in this situation, he did not suffer serious injuries himself, or worse, but that could have been a real possibility in a different scenario.

‘Driving above the speed limit, especially during hours of darkness, can have devastating consequences.

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‘Sadly, there have been a number of high-profile animal deaths on New Forest roads over the last 18 months; but these needn’t have happened if motorists been travelling within the speed limit or driving appropriately for the conditions.

‘This conviction hopefully sends out a stark message about the importance of driving safely, and within the law, across New Forest roads, but also that no one is above the law.

‘Failure to report a road traffic incident or accident is a criminal offence, and this shows that we will always seek to identify those responsible and put them in front of the courts so that justice can be served.’