A WOMAN car driver was ‘injured and traumatised’ after hitting a stag on the A39 road at a time when the Quantock Staghounds was riding to hounds last month.

The incident happened near Holford at about 4.30 pm on October 12 as the woman was driving with her three-year-old daughter also in the car on her way to Minehead Butlin’s.

The woman, who wants to remain anonymous for fear of any backlash, felt the impact as the stag hit the VW Golf’s bonnet and heard a rear passenger window smash.

She said: “He was so big and fast and in my mind I truly felt the horror of us being crushed to death.

“As I felt the thud of impact I heard a ping and it was the back passenger side window.

“Usually, my daughter would have been in the back.

A Quantock Staghounds rider on A39 near Holford, photographed by the North Dorset Hunt Saboteurs.
A Quantock Staghounds rider on the A39 near Holford, photographed by the North Dorset Hunt Saboteurs. (North Dorset Hunt Saboteurs)

“If she had been, without a doubt my baby would have been crushed to death as the stag kicked out with such force it bent the metal support frame of the door.”

The woman needed medical treatment for an injury to her leg and said both she and her daughter were suffering psychologically,

She said: “I have not slept properly since.

“I am having flashbacks and my heart is constantly racing, feeling that I am being chased.

“I am having nightmares about people on horseback causing the death of my child.

“My daughter has been traumatised and is showing signs of her nervous system reacting to the trauma.”

Eye witness Angie Clark and her husband were also driving on the A39 between Nether Stowey and Holford when the incident happened.

Ms Clark said it was clear a hunt had been taking place because ‘men were in the hedges alongside the road shouting and hollering, waving sticks’.

A rear window of this VW car was shattered when it was in collision with a stag on the A39 near Holford.
A rear window of this VW car was shattered when it was in collision with a stag on the A39 near Holford. (Contributed)

She said: “The stag was flipped over the top of the car.

“Its leg kicked out smashing the rear nearside window.

“The stag landed heavily on the verge.

“We stopped to assist the young female driver and her small child.

“They were uninjured but very badly shaken.

“We looked for the stag but could not see him.

“The hunt fled the scene.

“The police have been informed.”

The Hunt Saboteurs Association (HSA) said the Quantock Staghounds had been present as the stag was ‘chased’ on to the road.

HSA spokesperson Rowan Hughes said the incident was ‘shocking, but not at all surprising’.

Now, saboteurs have called for a Community Protection Notice to be served on the staghounds which would give police powers to prevent ‘unreasonable behaviour’ which was ‘negatively impacting’ a local community’s quality of life.

Quantock Staghounds (QSH) chairman James Hawthorne said none of the staghounds members had witnessed the accident.

Mr Hawthorne said: “Deer cross the A39 throughout the year and especially during the rut.

“The QSH are called to deal with many dead and injured deer on this particular stretch of road.”

Avon and Somerset Police said a report received some time after the incident did not provide enough information for a viable inquiry to be followed.