A 74-YEAR-old woman said she was trapped in her home along with other retired residents after 20 escaped horses were rounded up into the car park where they live.

Maureen Andrews lives in Penn Mead, a block of eight flats in Church Road, Penn which are owned by Paradigm Housing.

She said the horses, which had escaped from a field, were herded into the car park on Friday night at about 6pm and were not collected until 12pm the next day.

Mrs Andrews said: "We, as a little community here, are all retired people. Some of us were quite frightened for a while.

"I am a person who loves horses but at first it was panic. I wasn't able to get out to my regular choir practice.

"We were, more or less, trapped here Friday night."

She said the horses were left at the bottom of the car park where the residents park their cars and were shut in.

Mrs Andrews said the horses left the lawn and their gardens in a mess.

Police said they were called at about 5.48pm on Friday about horses that had escaped from a field. They were rounded up but the police said they had some difficulty contacting the owner, who came and collected the animals the following morning.

The police gave the owner advice on securing the field and the RSPCA were informed throughout the incident.