A DOUBLE ‘drug overdose’ in the crowd at Cothelstone point-to-point forced the event to be abandoned prematurely.

On Saturday, March 9, the popular horse racing fixture had to be called off when two members of the crowd collapsed after suffering what is believed to be an overdose of drugs.

On-site medical personnel attended to what are thought to have been a pair of young people before an ambulance arrived and conveyed one of them to Musgrove Park Hospital in Taunton.

A spokesperson for Wessex Point-to-Point said the diversion meant the event could not continue while medical workers were otherwise engaged. They said: “Two members of the general public collapsed from what is believed to have been a drugs overdose towards the end of the race day.

“Since the doctors and paramedics were engaged in this, they were not available to ensure the high standard of support that we always provide for point to point races, and so the last race was called off. 

“All point-to-point fixtures have at least two trauma trained doctors and two paramedic teams with ambulances.  Each year some lives of the general public are saved, often following heart attacks, because they are at point-to-points where skilled medical assets are available.”

Confirming the incident a spokesperson for the South Western Ambulance Service said: “We were called at 3:03pm on Saturday, March 9 to an incident near Bishop’s Lydeard. We sent a double-crewed land ambulance and conveyed one patient by land ambulance to Musgrove Park Hospital.”