An hour-long operation was carried out today to free a horse that had become trapped under a van at Station Bridge in Keighley.

The horse was towing a cart along Bradford Road towards the town centre when it broke loose, cantered off and crashed into a white Mercedes van travelling in the opposite direction.

The male driver of the cart suffered a complicated fracture to his lower leg and was taken to Airedale Hospital following the incident, which happened at around 11am.

Dalton Lane and Bradford Street were closed while 16 firefighters, four police officers, four ambulance staff and two vets tried to rescue the horse, which had become trapped between the van and pedestrian barriers next to the Asda site.

Keighley fire station manager Steve Nunn, who was in charge of the operation, said he was alerted to the incident when a workman from the Asda site rapped on his office door and described the situation.

Mr Nunn said: “When we arrived at the scene the driver of the horse and cart was clearly in shock from his injuries but seemed more concerned about his horse.

“Once I told him that the horse wasn’t dead he calmed down a bit and we could see to him.

“A vet was called to check over the horse and sedate her while we used a hand winch to slowly ease the van up so the horse could be freed.

“We did this very slowly because at this point my concern was that as soon as the horse knew it could get free it was going to run and I didn’t want it to trample on anyone.

“The horse ended up being fine and escaped with just a few grazes and was eating the grass outside the station while it waited to be collected by its owners!” No one else was injured in the incident but the white van involved was damaged.

It was the second accident to occur on Station Bridge within a few days.

Mr Nunn said drivers should be careful when negotiating the junctions in the area because of the narrowing of the road due to the Asda work.