Never Mind the Sex Pistols - Here's the Bollocks!

BRT Horse Transport International Limited is off the road after it's director and transport manager, Chris Muir, was stripped of his operator's licence.

Christopher Muir was interviewed by the Vehicle Operator Standards Agency (VOSA) in June last year for failing to use a tachograph on one of his vehicles.

Mr Muir replied "Bollocks to EU rules" when Transport Commissioner Ms Sarah Bell asked him "perfectly reasonable question" at interview under caution. Her reply was that his response "sums up his approach to compliance" and subsequently banned him from acting as a transport manager for any company on 7 June 2010

Ms Bell said 'Those passionate about their animals are entitled to have their horses transported safely and lawfully. Mr Muir and BRT have failed to meet the requirements — this licence must be revoked."

In a written decision following the public inquiry in May, Ms Bell ruled that Christopher Muir, director of Hungerford, Berks-based BRT Horse Transport International, could not be nominated as transport manager in any traffic area from 30 July. This decision also therefore affects J&B Horse Transport, being set up by Jane I'Anson, with Mr Muir as transport manager. Ms Bell said Mrs I'Anson must find another person to take that role. The BRT premises in Hungerford are also the registered UK offices of Ireland-based transport company Doran Equine International.

Mr Muir has been hauled before the traffic commissioner before for unsatisfactory maintenance of his lorries - another document compiled by a VOSA vehicle examiner found that many preventive maintenance inspection sheets for company vehicles did not show brake tests and/or tyre tread depths.

"The reports of the vehicle examiner and traffic examiner taken separately and together demonstrate a blatant disregard for the operator licensing regime," Ms Bell said, and added that the findings of the VOSA officers made "unedifying reading" .

Mr Muir was a transporter regularly used by one of the UK based French 'Rescue' forums which imported horses from France that were destined for slaughter. On one of his trips to collect said equines some were on board his lorry for a total of 45 hours continuously without being unloaded and rested, showing a blatant disregard for the welfare of the horses in his charge and EU regulations regarding their transport.

Here are extracts of the blog that appeared on the rescue forum detailing all the collections and the traveling hours, with no mention of stopping to unload and rest the horses until their eventual arrival in the UK.

"arrived in Caen 9.30pm with 2 driver drove through the night to reach for 8am in the morning !!!" on our way by 1pm then another 4 hours journey down to collect from the middle of nowhere !!!

Horses on truck for 6 hours so far...

"another 4 hours drive to pick up , by 10.30 on the road again 6 hours driving to collect !!! arrived at 4.35 in the morning"

Horses on truck for 16.35 hours so far...

", away again on another long journey up north, stopped for something to eat and drink for all of us horses hay water & doors open and ourselves !!!! off we go again !!!

"driving all day for the last three pick ups which were 4 hours apart as well as the drive up to the north which was about 8.5 hours"

Horses on truck for 30 hours so far...

its very exhausting for the drivers but at every stop all the horses were happy & contented, our last collection was at where the horses were all watered & fed again. Then another 2 hour drive back to the ferry port at Caen, where we had a 2.hour wait to be loaded on the ferry.

Horses on truck for 34.20 hours so far...

"We left Caen at 11pm last night and got off the ferry at 7am this morning on the way out all the horse lorry.s were calledinto customs which wasted another 1 hours !!!! then on the road again to the yard by 9.20am all were in there boxes at the yard with hay & water all happy & content and travelled well. "

Horses on truck for 44.40 hours so far

"For the next couple of hours they had some R&R while the lorries were cleaned out and all hayed up & ready to go out to take the horses to there new expectant families !!! 2 lorries left at 11.30 i north & 1 south "

Only TWO hours rest before they continued on the lorry again, some going as far as Scotland.

The majority of these horses were not eligible for traveling under the TPA, so should have held health certificates for fitness to travel and only endured a maximum journey time of 12 hours travel, with twelve hours rest OFF the lorry. Any horses eligible to travel the full 24 hours MUST come off and be rested for another 24 hours before they are allowed to travel again. Clearly these regulations were ignored, as were those governing driver hours. Bollocks indeed!

INAG for Equines sincerely hope that the publicity Mr Muir's case has attracted will go some way towards highlighting the desperate welfare need for more stringent checks on every horse transporter at both UK port entry and exit - heaven forbid that journeys such as this are actually the norm thanks to the current lack of checks made!

There are some that know the price of everything and yet the value of nothing

During routine monitoring of the French ‘rescue’ forums in France, Equine Rescue France saw to their dismay a racehorse from the UK, Corran Ard, at risk of going for meat. The nine-year-old gelding had been ridden by champion jockey Ryan Moore during his 21-race career, under the tutelage of Welsh trainer Evan Williams, amassing earnings of over £40,000 over his career.

However, within weeks of finishing his racing career in March 2010, Corran Ard was discovered being lined up for slaughter on the website of French rescue website Vivelvie. On checking his details on the Racing Post site, ERF discovered that his last run, on the 26th of March this year, was less than a month before his arrival on the site on the 20th of April.

The gelding, who had won twice in the hands of champion jockey Ryan Moore, had been moved to the Cowbridge stables of Mr Williams’ neighbour Tim Vaughan when Corran Ard's career ended at Wolverhampton in March after he suffered a serious tendon injury

Tim Vaughan, was promptly contacted and a series of emails ensued between ERF and the trainer’s assistant Mark Gichero, who assured them he was doing what he could to find out why the horse had ended up there. Mr Gichero said: 'It’s an absolute mystery. Corran Ard had a bad tendon injury and was given to a friend who passed it on to someone else. It seems the horse was then sold to go to France, but we have no idea who did that.'

Mr Vaughan, who has trained 34 winners this new jumps season, said: “I was shocked and horrified when I got an e-mail telling me that Corran Ard was on this website, and I asked Mark to do something about it immediately. We’d been under an illusion that the horse had gone to a good home in Newmarket.”

Neither Mr Vaughan nor Mr Gichero could explain how Corran Ard had ended up in France or on the Vivelvie website although Mr Vaughan believed he had gone to a good home in Newmarket for his retirement.

Suddenly, on the 27th of April, Corran Ard was taken off the Vivelvie website as 'no longer available'. ERF then received an email from Mark Gichero saying that he had been in touch with his contacts in France who had assured him the horse would be found a home via them.

In the interim, after doing more research, ERF found other UK ex racers on Vivelvie from the same region of the UK and they alerted the British Horseracing Authority to the fact, who have passed the details to their investigations team.

On the 15th of June Corran Ard reappeared on the Vivelvie website - only now at a lower price and 'in imminent danger of going to the abattoir'!

ERF decided there was no time to waste in order to not only ensure that the horse was given every chance of a future, but also highlight the fact that this cross channel trade in unwanted UK horses and ponies to French dealing/meat yards is a flourishing trade and thus they contacted the newspapers in the UK to highlight that fact to the public.

When the press contacted Mark Gichero, he was understandably horrified that the horse had resurfaced back in the same place and he contacted ERF to ask how he could help Corran Ard, generously funding his 'purchase price' and transport costs from Vivelvie. Corran Ard was collected on Monday 28th of June by ERF and now has his future secured with them.

Mr Williams, who has trained 350 winners in the past five years from his stables in the Vale of Glamorgan, said 'This is a very sad story, and I’m more than angry about it. Corran Ard was sold for £5,000 in July 2009, and he’s ended up in France, apparently going for meat. I’m bitterly upset. He should have been shown more respect. He was thrown on the scrapheap. Corran Ard was my first winner on the flat. He was a smashing horse, and a great servant for us. Every horse in training should have to go through a reputable sales ring for a minimum price to prevent it ending up in the meat market. It’s fundamentally wrong for any horse to end up in that situation. There are people in our sport who should not be in it. They are distasteful characters. It’s a big problem, and it’s time people at the top did something about it. Our horses are not be respected in the way they deserve, and it makes my blood boil. I feel absolutely helpless.'

Jenny Lupton from ERF said 'Corran Ard is a beautiful, sensitive horse who was obviously shell-shocked at the immediate change in his circumstances - going from 5* treatment in a racing yard to being on the meat trail must have been bewildering and terrifying for him. He will take some careful rehabilitation, he has been neglected to the extent that he was still wearing his racing plates when we collected him, over three months after his last race. Luckily, the attention being lavished on him was quickly accepted as his due, and the spark is back in his eye. The physical recovery will sadly take much longer. He’ll be thoroughly examined by a vet and wormed, and will have his feet and teeth done. We’ll then let him recuperate and, once he’s well, we’ll re-home him.'

You can read the Newspaper story in Wales Online - http://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/columnists/2010/06/30/champion-racehorse-saved-from-slaughter-91466-26753780/ and follow the Equine Rescue France blog here - http://equinerescuefrance.wordpress.com/

For reasons best known to themselves, discussion of this topic has been banned on the Horse and Hound Forum - despite the fact that this is a story that has traveled the world - therefore we would love to hear from anyone who has any information they feel could be helpful regarding the exportation of live horses to slaughter in Europe.