Five Household Cavalry horses rampaged through central London on Wednesday morning after being spooked by noisy construction work.

The runaway horses, including one white horse drenched in blood, ran through the rush-hour streets of London, colliding with vehicles and resulting in four people being taken to hospital.

As the horses charged through the streets they collided with a double-decker tour bus and a Mercedes-Benz people carrier, before continuing to gallop eight kilometres through rush hour traffic to the east of the capital.

The animals threw their riders, from the Household Cavalry regiment while they were leaving Hyde Park Barracks during preparations for rehearsals for the King’s birthday parade through the streets of London, which is scheduled to take place in June.

After the riders lost control, the horses bolted. A parked tourist bus in Buckingham Palace Road was damaged after being hit by one of the horses.

Two of the horses, one covered in blood, then charged through busy streets around Tower Bridge and the Strand for eight kilometres until eventually being stopped in Limehouse.

Video footage taken by shocked onlookers showed a commuter on an e-scooter narrowly dodging being run over, a pedestrian falling on the pavement and many running to avoid the animals in scenes described as “total mayhem”.

All five of the horses, one of which was shown on video being calmed by members of the public, were later recovered and assessed by Army vets.

“There were five horses. They have all been recovered. Three of them are fine, two of them are unfortunately in a relatively serious condition and obviously we will be monitoring that condition,” the defence minister James Cartlidge told Sky News.

Three soldiers were assessed in hospital for their injuries, which were not thought to be serious.

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