Hotel guests found themselves sharing the lobby with a horse, which
tried to get into the elevator. The runaway horse caused chaos as it charged
in and out of the Best Western Birmingham Metro Maypole at 9.45am on
Tuesday. It had earlier bolted across the car park of a nearby store and
dodged attempts to lasso it with a tow rope. The animal, said to have
been limping, rushed into the hotel’s lift before it was captured. West
Midlands Police said officers brought the horse under control and
returned it to its owner.
But a Best Western spokesman said the beast was later put down, leaving
hotel staff “devastated”. Heather Thornton, director of sales at the
hotel, off Maypole Lane, said: “I saw two police officers when I arrived
at 9.50am and there were a lot of people standing around the hotel
looking bemused. The horse tried to get into the lift and then it
reversed out again. It was stressed and frightened. It did a lot of
damage to the lobby. It made some dents in the wall and knocked over
plants but the staff were worried about the horse.”
The horse had earlier run past a nearby Halfords store and escaped the
clutches of duty manager Jay Gordhan. He said: “A customer walked in
asking if anyone had seen a horse. Just then, it appeared and ran around
the car park. I grabbed one of our tow ropes and tried to throw it over
the horse. But it ran into the Best Western and smashed up a bit of
their lobby.
I told one of the girls to throw it some fruit to keep it there.”
The Best Western spokesman said the horse had come in through the
hotel’s sliding glass front doors. “Clearly scared it was trying to find
its way back out,” he said. “Staff and guests were very concerned about
the horse and tried to make sure it did not injure itself. While some
damage was done to the hotel, the horse eventually found its way out
after trying to get in the lift. Sadly the horse had to be put down. The
hotel staff do not know why, but are devastated.”
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