PEOPLE living in a quiet neighbourhood looked on in horror as a pack of hounds chased a fox through their street when a hunt got out of control.

About a dozen foxhounds descended on Rebekah Gardens, Droitwich, before searching frantically through people’s front gardens for a fleeing fox.

Resident Campbell Deas said it was lucky the weather was too cold for children to be outside playing with their new Christmas presents when the incident happened on Saturday afternoon.

Father-of-two Mr Deas said: “I was outside taking down the Christmas lights when I saw a fox running down the street.

“About 30 seconds later a whole pack of baying hounds came charging after it. I didn’t see where the fox went but the hounds were running through people’s front and back gardens looking for it.

“Some of the dogs managed to get over a six-foot fence at the end of the road before a man came along and attempted to round them up. He was shouting and yelling trying to get them all together which just added to the chaos of the whole situation.

“He didn’t offer any apologies to the residents. He was just bothered about getting the hounds under control.

“The other residents in the street were in shock. There are a lot of youngsters living around here. Had it not been so cold there would have been lots of kids out in the street playing with their new toys.” Mr Deas, aged 50, said he had no idea where the hounds came from. Nothing like this had ever happened in the 10 years he had lived there.

“Why were they chasing the fox in the first place? It is supposed to be illegal,” he said.

David Palmer, joint master of the Worcestershire Hunt, said they had taken a pack of hounds out for some exercise when the dogs began chasing a fox.

Mr Palmer said: “The ground was too icy for the horses so we laid a trail and went out on foot.

“A real fox then came running past and the hounds went after it. We managed to stop them as soon as we could and the fox got away. It was just a bit of exercise that went slightly wrong.”

A police spokesman said the matter had not been reported so they were not investigating at this stage. Louise Robertson, spokeswoman for the League Against Cruel Sports, said: “We have reports all the time about hunts getting out of control in this way.

“And if they do catch the fox and tear it up it can be very distressing for members of the public. We would recommend that members of the public report these incidents to the police.”