What would you do if this company (PPS) 'took' your horse?

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Dolcé

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Have a look at this story:

http://www.yorkshireeveningpost.co.uk/news/Families39-distress-as-fate-of.6407641.jp

Whilst I realise that the family were grazing their horse without permission, and had technically had free grass livery for 30 years, I think this is appalling. I am disgusted at Leeds City Council for condoning such tactics and shocked at the way this company is allowed to operate.

So.......what would you do if you found your horse had been taken 'legally' by this company and you had no way of finding out where he was or even if they had PTS because the letter they sent you arrived after the deadline they gave you for payment (deadline was in the letter that arrived late!)

Does anyone know anything about PPS, who they are and where they are really based?

I find the whole thing quite scary really!
 
As far as I can see what this company and therefore what Leeds council have done is illegal and amounts to theft.

They have given (if the report is to be believed) no advanced warning of removal and an inadequate notice after the removal.

I would be contacting the police, my solicitor and the head office of this contractor in person if needs be and then starting proceedings against them.

If the RSPCA or other animal welfare charity wants to remove an animal every effort is made to contact the owner beforehand unless there is immediate danger to life and limb and even then the police have to be present. To think that a company can just come and 'take' horses ad hoc is beyond belief and that this is actually supported by a government body is truly shocking.
 
Wow!:eek: That is scary. Although I feel there is a lot more behind the story than the paper is letting on.:rolleyes:
I suppose it it's there illegally then it could be removed but surely after some warnings. Although I don't know how they'd know who's horse it is.
It doesn't say anything in the article about how long it had been there or letters arriving after the deadline date, so not sure where you read that bit.:confused:
 
Agree with above spaniel. They have to, at the very least, of left a notice of abandonment in which the owners should have 24-48hrs (i think) to make themselves known.

Bullies. Plain and simple!
 
many councils are having to resort to complicated and 'mysterious' procedures in order to deal with the huge numbers of illegally grazed travellers horses on council land.

If there is any idea of where the horse is, the place they are being kept can find itself raided very shortly afterwards by a large posse of angry travellers.

In this case there may have been a lot more too it and very different circumstances, it isnt clear just from the article about how long they had grazed there and what the arrangements were, but if it was without permission then its understandable the horses would be treated the same as illegally grazing gypsy horses, otherwise not fair on the travellers to treat differently?
 
Really do feel for the family, very sad indeed, I do hope they get the pony back very quickly and safe and sound, what ever has gone on.
 
chickeninabun said:
Wow!:eek: That is scary. Although I feel there is a lot more behind the story than the paper is letting on.:rolleyes:
I suppose it it's there illegally then it could be removed but surely after some warnings. Although I don't know how they'd know who's horse it is.
It doesn't say anything in the article about how long it had been there or letters arriving after the deadline date, so not sure where you read that bit.:confused:
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Ah, sorry, I read the article in the paper and assumed the link would read the same, the pony has been kept there for 15 years and the owner has kept ponies on the land for 30 years. It is a retired show pony.

I don't have a problem with the pony being 'siezed' as such it is the way it has been done, with no warning and then the secrecy after the event.

lachlanandmarcus, the stupid thing is that they wouldn't dare do this with travellers, they are dealt with through the court to evict and their ponies never seem to be taken. There was a reference in the paper to another guy who had 2 taken in November last year by the same company but again he was a local.

Suppose you kept your horses at what you thought was a livery yard but in fact the yo had no right to be there and they decided to act this way and take all horses on the land with no warning, I just cannot believe it is legal.
 
Sanolly said:
Isn't there something about common land being available for 'commoners' to graze animals on?

!
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Haven't read the story yet but bare with me.

Commoners are those that have registered rights to graze that particular common. Just because someone lives on (beside) a common does not give them automatic rights to graze animals on that common. It annoys our neighbours no end that they don't have rights on our common but the homeowner before them did not register their rights at the correct time (back early '70s) so they have no chance of getting them now. Commoner rights go with the property, if a commoner sold and moved, the new owner would take over those rights.
Off to read the article now.

Read it, very scary and sorry for owners.
 
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bloody hell...
i mean i wouldnt graze my horse on someones land without permission, but thats shocking!
surely they should have been given several notices rather than them just taking the pony?!
i would also contact the police and a solicitor and the papers.......
 
I hope for their sake that they find this pony.... this is very sad....

Surely though they were checking on the pony and noticed it was gone...before they got the letter saying they had seized the pony?

Hmmmmmmmmmmmmm. If I were checking a pony at least once a day I'd have figured it wasn't there then sent out the Police/ search parties to find the pony.......

:o\
 
Sounds rather a shady company, goodness knows why the council chose that particular one. Any business with nothing but a PO Box No, I wouldn't trust.

I suspect there is more to this story than we are being told, but do hope they get their animals back.
 
simplyme said:
I hope for their sake that they find this pony.... this is very sad....

Surely though they were checking on the pony and noticed it was gone...before they got the letter saying they had seized the pony?

Hmmmmmmmmmmmmm. If I were checking a pony at least once a day I'd have figured it wasn't there then sent out the Police/ search parties to find the pony.......

:o\
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The company posted a notice at the side of the field directing them to the local POLICE STATION to pick up a claim form to claim the pony back, they had to send proof of ownership and the PASSPORT with the claim form, the letter with the deadline for payment was sent after they had returned the claim form and proofs - whats the betting the pony was sold at auction before they even got thte letter!
 
I hope the firm followed correct procedures! Sounds very dodgy. There's a 'handy' field in our village - large, lots of grass, shady trees and a stream/ditch that even in this weather I'm sure won't quite be dry, which sometimes has travellers ponies left on it. The owner deals with it correctly, by posting on the gate a notice of intent to remove said ponies and send them to auction unless the ponies are removed within a certain time (I think something like 14 days of notice).

Now whilst one can sympathise with the owners for their pony being removed, one does wonder if correct procedures were followed and if a notice was posted on the field gate stating that the intent that horses would be removed in 14 days or whatever's time. If this was the case, one wonders if this was a large and happy retirement field of plentiful grass perhaps with natural stream or water source, and one might wonder how often the owners visited their beloved retired pony, and when they last saw him?
 
Hard to comment as we don't know the full story. There used to be a law or something that if you didn't pay rent and cared for the land for 10 years you could claim it. But I know this law was changed a few years ago.
 
I suspect that there is a lot more to this than the newspaper has reported. If your horse is grazing in a legally owned field you aren't going to have this problem. This is something the council have been driven to do because the horse has been grazing illegally on public land.
 
If its true - how absolutely awful. Particularly so in light of the recent thread on here about a teenager abandoning her horse on a HHO user's land - and the person who ended up looking after it being advised that there was not one single thing they could do about it, yet the council can sub-contract work out like this to a company nobody even knows where they operate from?!

I hope WHW are involved, and a team of legal eagles get the horses back to their rightful owners.
 
tracey01 said:
I suspect that there is a lot more to this than the newspaper has reported. If your horse is grazing in a legally owned field you aren't going to have this problem. This is something the council have been driven to do because the horse has been grazing illegally on public land.
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Agree. I suspect (but don't know of course, so apologies if wrong) that the owners either hadn't heard that the council took over all unclaimed land last year so they do have the right to clear it of non-paying guests (very easy to do if you don't have local papers or there was not a notice at the entrance to the land explaining this fact, which I would imagine the council would have done to the correct procedures) or they've known but ignored it completely in the hope it would go away and it's blown up in their faces.
Another option is 'vandals' have removed any notices that may have been placed on the land before the pony owners saw them.
Another option is someone on the council is in cahoots with this company and kept it all quiet until too late as if there's no paper trail to this company based in London, how the hell did someone from Leeds know about them and persuade the council they were a good thing?
If they didn't follow the correct procedures, surely this amounts to theft?

I feel sorry for the owners if they had no prior notice which I do find hard to believe in these days of litigation, but if they did know, well, they put their own pony in danger and are now suffering for it.
Which ever, if any of those scenarios it turns out to be, it'll be a long time coming out in the wash, if it ever does.
 
I will have to check am be sure I was told correctly, but I am sure if you graze land and are unchallenged within 12 months, they cannot just bung you off anyways.
The fact they have been there 30 odd years unchallenged will not sit well with a judge tbh.
Having just been through this, I can tell you now, there is a very set way to get ponies removed from your land, and its not cheap or easy! You must post notice to quit, and if that is ignored you go to court. Again you must post the notice of judgement.
If thats ignored, you go back to court again, and get a notice of possession which then gives you the right to have the horse seized. The horse can then be put up for public auction to recoup the costs you spent out on getting it removed.
If the horse's ownership cannot be proved, you have the choice to keep the animal if you so wish, but obviously have to get it passported.
 
tracey01 said:
I suspect that there is a lot more to this than the newspaper has reported. If your horse is grazing in a legally owned field you aren't going to have this problem. This is something the council have been driven to do because the horse has been grazing illegally on public land.
Click to expand...

Agree with this.
 
I would have been inclined to agree with those who said that the owners might have had something to hide and were in the wrong for keeping their horses there in the first place, except that this PPS company is so secretive and Leeds City Council are refusing the answer any questions about the fate of the horses.

Ah well, have sent the link to my mum, who's a journalist for a national paper. Sure she'll try to get to the bottom of it.
 
I pay to graze my horses on land. I do not just put my horses on an empty field & freeload off the owners for year after year after year. 30 years of free grazing & then they have their horse seized & are billed around £1500...... that works out at less than £1 per week grazing for the time they've been there. I think they've had a really good deal. If someone offered grazing at that price they would be inundated with people wanting it.

I think there is possibly more to this than the story is actually saying. If the owners of the horse actually think anything of him they should pay & get their horse released back to them, or are they demanding this for free as well....freeloaders! I also wonder how long the horse had been taken for before they knew he was missing?
 
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Oh that must be a relief for them, at least they know he is safe and well.

'Toby_Zaphod
Re: What would you do if this company (PPS) 'took' your horse?
I pay to graze my horses on land. I do not just put my horses on an empty field & freeload off the owners for year after year after year. 30 years of free grazing & then they have their horse seized & are billed around £1500...... that works out at less than £1 per week grazing for the time they've been there. I think they've had a really good deal. If someone offered grazing at that price they would be inundated with people wanting it.

I think there is possibly more to this than the story is actually saying. If the owners of the horse actually think anything of him they should pay & get their horse released back to them, or are they demanding this for free as well....freeloaders! I also wonder how long the horse had been taken for before they knew he was missing? '

I agree totally with what you are saying, in fact I did the same calculations and did think they had a bit of a cheek using a field without permission to graze their pony for years on end! I did also wonder how long it was before they noticed the pony had gone but that may just be a bit mean and they could have been visiting twice a day as do most people. It was the way this was done and then the secrecy that worried me. I spent several hours yesterday trying to find anything at all on this company and could find nothing. The only other reference I could find was that the council in Poole, Dorset use them for the same reason.
 
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