A Good Samaritan has been left saddled with five stray horses in his back yard – after helping to lead them to safety as they diced with death on a busy main road in the Black Country.

Nathan Astley has been expecting specialists from Dudley Council to collect the ponies since he and nearby property developer Simon Ward rounded them up, with help from several other people, outside Dudley Leisure Centre, in Wellington Road, Dudley, on Wednesday afternoon.

But by this morning nobody had contacted him, even though the council has notified its horse enforcement agency after being alerted by police.

Today police and the council were criticised for passing the problem from one agency to the other.

Mr Astley went to help builder and developer Simon Ward with the distraught animals, which had been wandering across the busy road, causing traffic to brake sharply, at about noon on Wednesday.

Mr Ward, aged 48, of Westley Road, Ironbridge,  who is converting a property in Wellington Road into apartments, marshalled the horses to stop them going into the road, while Mr Astley, aged 33, stopped traffic.

The horses were finally escorted to Mr Astley’s back yard in nearby Dock Lane at about 2.30pm.

Mr Astley said: “I’ve been expecting the council to    fetch them but so far nobody has been in touch. I would like to appeal to anyone who has any horse blankets to lend me to contact me on 07765 854543.”

Mr Ward said: “I’d rung the police and the council but they were doing a Chuckle Brothers act — “from me to you, from you to me” — with nobody accepting responsibility.”

Dudley Police confirmed that they had received several calls about the horses  and had called the council and the RSPCA.

The council pays £20,000 a year to Rossendales, of Lancashire, to round up stray horses. A council spokesman said the agency had boon notified and added: “In the meantime we are working with police and the RSPCA.”