Auction bosses to review security measures following Kendal cow escape

11:57am Tuesday 2nd March 2010

By Ian Boydon

A POLICE watchdog is not pursuing an investigation into a Kendal incident involving claims people were narrowly missed by a ricocheting bullet fired at a rampaging cow.

Following initial enquiries the Independent Police Complaints Commission have decided Cumbria Constabulary can deal with the investigation in-house.

Meanwhile there have been mounting calls for increased security measures to be introduced at the Kendal Auction Mart, in Appleby Road, from where the runaway black friesian cow escaped a week last Thursday. The cow went on a one-mile rampage along Spital Park and Mint Street - trampling three people - before a police marksman took five shots to kill it on Kendal Cricket Club’s ground.

John Hughes, senior auctioneer and livestock manager at Kendal Auction Mart, said this was the third incident of livestock getting loose from the site since 2005. Bosses at the mart have been calling for a relocation to a more rural site at Crooklands.

A resident of Foul Ing Lane, who did not want to be named, had a runaway cow tear through her garden in May 2007.

“To have a cow in our garden was not the most pleasant of experiences as you can well imagine - they do seem a lot bigger in a confined space,” she said. “Having heard it smash the greenhouse a couple of gardens away and then confronted with it in our garden my first concern was for our conservatory I'm ashamed to say - and so shooed it away. Consequently it crashed through the next set of fencing and continued up through subsequent gardens.

“The auction market manager was swift to visit us and apologise and we duly submitted our claim.”

Mayor of Kendal John Bateson said he wanted the auction mart to remain in the town but has backed calls for an inquiry to be held into the recent escape and for increased security measures to be installed.

“I would think that the auction mart ought to be doing more and this incident should be fully investigated,” he said.

“It suggests that the security is not brilliant. I would definately call for an enquiry - it could have been a serious incident.”

Mr Hughes said the mart was looking into how it could improve its security practices.

He said that cows had not escaped from the cattle area but through the main customer entrance.

“All of the lads are on NVQs and we have got all the security we can have there for most eventualities,” he said. “The security has been the same for as long as the mart has been here. For the majority of situations that arise the security is considered to be adequate but we are looking into it at the moment.

“Each time that cattle have escaped it is through a gateway that allows customers in and out. The vehicles have to come in and so to keep them closed with each one coming in is not practical. We try to regulate the arrival of our customers but that isn’t always possible.

"It is possible to put a man on the gate and this is something we are looking at.

"If we were to do that it would cost thousands of pounds but we havn’t got an exact figure yet.”