Police are investigating after two hunt monitors claim they were mown down by a Tedworth Hunt employee at Stowell, near Pewsey, on Saturday.

The two men, one from near Pewsey and the other from near Marlborough, said they were on a public road at Stowell where the Tedworth had its opening meet when a hunt worker deliberately drove at them on a quad bike.

The Gazette was able to contact one of the two men, who lives near Pewsey, who was prepared to speak as long as his identity was not revealed.

He described himself as a hunt monitor and said he and his friend had a video camera to record any illegal activity by the hunt. He said the hunt had only just moved off and they were standing at the side of their Land Rover on a narrow lane at Castle Barn.

“We were watching the hunt from our Land Rover and two of us were stood at the side of it and the road was only wide enough for one vehicle,” he said.

“A quad bike with a wooden terrier box on the back came towards us and the driver revved it up and rode straight at us shouting: ‘Get out the f-----g way’. The box on the back of the quad dragged me and the other chap along the side of the Land Rover and he fell down and the quad drove over his arm.”

A Hunt Saboteurs Association spokesman said the two men received cuts and bruising.

The hunt asked the Countryside Alliance, the group that represents country sports, to speak on its behalf and its Wessex director Delly Everard said she was unable to discuss Saturday’s events because it was in the hands of the police.

She said: “It is entirely a matter for the police but we would say that the Tedworth was definitely hunting within the law.

“This sort of issue is never about animal welfare and always about prejudice. This is an example of the terrorism that hunt supporters are continuing to face.”

A police spokesman confirmed there had been a complaint from the monitors and it was being investigated.