Horsing around: Constable's Twitter post goes viral

Thursday 05 January 2017

A horse, a London street and a double decker bus – it may sound like the start to a bad joke, but this was the scene that greeted a Jersey politician on his travels through London.

St Helier Constable Simon Crowcroft had been lost in the area of Angel after taking a stroll down the canal when he came across a Police horse appearing to mount a double decker bus.

The quick-thinking politician grabbed a snap of the unusual scene on his phone, later posting it to his Twitter account - only to find, hours later, that it had gone viral.

Unsurprisingly, the post soon attracted jokes from Twitter users from far and wide:

@SimonCrowcroft @tomhatton1 @TfL and the conductor says "why the long face!"

— Charles Lawley (@CharlesLawley) January 3, 2017

@SimonCrowcroft @TfL Won't be a moment. Just checking the horse power of the bus. Great Pic

— moidov (@moidov) January 4, 2017

With the jokey photo now having made headlines in the Telegraph and the Evening Standard, as well as news outlets further afield including CNN and FOX, the truth behind the unusual passenger has now emerged.

The Police horse was attending the scene where a man had collapsed. He was found to be unharmed, but taken to hospital as a precaution.

Mr Crowcroft told the Islington Gazette: "It was a good outcome as the man was OK, and I am happy the pictures have been so widely shared because it emphasised the role that police play in looking after the community, which can often go unnoticed."

Horse entering bus in Islington this morning @TfL pic.twitter.com/f84WkelOh9

— Simon Crowcroft (@SimonCrowcroft) January 3, 2017