British driving star has horsebox stolen while at funeral
A horsebox has been stolen while its owner attended a funeral
with her horse-drawn hearse.
The lorry was parked on a busy road outside the funeral directors in Church Road, Stainforth, Doncaster, on Wednesday (7 October) and was taken between 11am and 12pm.
The owner, Karen Bassett, has provided a horse-drawn service for funerals for almost 13 years.
Karen is also a leading British carriage driver. She has competed as part of the British team at several world four-in-hand carriage driving championships.
“We drove the horses back to the funeral directors after the funeral, but when we arrived the lorry was gone,” she told H&H.
“There was glass on the floor where they had smashed the window to get in.
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“We were left stood in the pouring rain with the horses with no food or water while we waited for backup transport.
“I went into shock — I couldn’t believe what had happened. It was a busy road and broad daylight.”
The horsebox, worth £15-20,000, was purpose built by Tristar with a MAN chassis and a 23ft-long aluminum body.
It was designed to carry a hearse and horses, as well as having a tow bar to pull a trailer.
“There was quite a lot inside it. As it was raining we put capes on and left our best funeral jackets in the lorry,” said Karen.
“There were also lamps and all our personal belongings inside.”
Karen has been scouring the area looking for the horsebox and is desperate for any leads.
In the meanwhile she will be borrowing transport from friends so she can travel to funerals she is booked to attend with her horses.
“People have been so kind and I have been taking them up on their generous offers — if I can’t do the funerals I will go out of business,” she added.
Police enquiries are ongoing. Anyone with information about the horsebox’s whereabouts should call police on 101 quoting incident number 502 of October 7 2015.
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Rachael joined Horse & Hound in 2014, initially as a digital sub editor then became part of the news team as a writer in 2015. The philosophy graduate studied journalism at the Press Association before working as a local reporter at the Brentwood Gazette. Rachael is now a mum of two and still loves all things equestrian, including hacking, dressage and jumping with her cob Bert. Rachael left the H&H staff to go freelance in June 2019, but still contributes to our magazine and website, as well as our sister magazine Country Life, among others.