A carriage driver who was injured after his horses suddenly bolted was recovering in hospital last night after undergoing surgery to his knee.

The 65-year-old is on a general ward at King Edward VII Memorial Hospital, where his condition was described as satisfactory yesterday.

Animal Welfare officer Charles Whited, who is inspector of the SPCA, said he and Police are continuing to investigate the circumstances that led up to the incident in Pembroke on Monday night, which left the driver in excruciating pain.

He said he did not wish to name the driver, but said he worked for a horse and carriage owner in Pembroke, and did not own the horses himself. Mr. Whited said: "From what I understand, the driver lives near Euclid Avenue and had tied the horses up while he went inside for a few minutes.

"When he came back out and tried to climb up into the carriage, one of the horses began to move away. As he tried to stop the horse from moving, the other one got spooked, and they both took off. The driver was thrown to the ground, and he suffered a fairly significant injury to his leg and a slight injury to his shoulder. He was obviously in a lot of pain. As a result, he had to undergo surgery."

The Royal Gazette reported yesterday how the horses bolted east along Euclid Avenue, across St. John's Road, finally coming to rest after they hit the wall of St. John's Church.

Mr. Whited said when he arrived on the scene, one of the horses had managed to stand up, but the other was still lying on the ground. Both animals suffered shock and minor injuries, but neither were seriously hurt.

And he said fortunately, no one else was hurt in the incident.

Mr. Whited added: "When I got there, I had to cut the horses free from their harnesses because they were fairly tangled up. The horses were pretty banged up, and I'm sure they will have been sore the next morning, but amazingly there were no serious injuries and the carriage was in perfect condition.

"We have had no reports that any other vehicles were damaged, either. "The Police and the SPCA are still actively investigating the circumstances that led up to the horses running away."