Police couldn't resist sharing a joke after officers were sent to round up a runaway horse.

Officers were despatched after worried motorists called to say there was a horse on the loose on the Sheppey Way in Iwade.

After a "protracted chase" an officer from patrol LPT4 tweeted: "Caught and removed the horse from the ‘mane’ road. The issue was the horse didn’t stand still ‘furlong.’"

It encouraged Swale borough councillor Cameron Beart (Con, Halfway and Queenborough) to respond: "Indeed. Sounds like LPT4 had a bit of a mare."

Police replied: "When the officers returned to the station (they) were ‘saddled’ with the paperwork."

The drama of the horse-wrangling officers started just after 7pm last night and turned a routine patrol into a night 'mare'.

A police spokesman confirmed today: "We were called at 7.10pm on Friday regarding a loose horse causing a hazard to traffic on the Sheppey Way at Iwade.

"Officers attended the scene and the horse was removed from the road."

He was unable to say where the horse had escaped from or where it was taken.

On the same night, officers on patrol in Sittingbourne and Iwade stopped a car being driven erratically.

The driver was arrested after testing positive for cannabis.