A man, 50, who died in car crash with horses on the way to work has been named locally

Johnny Brown collided with loose horses on the busy stretch of the M18 near Doncast at 4.44am on Friday morning.

Johnny, a train manager for rail operator East Midlands Railway, was described as a ‘beautiful soul with a contagious smile’.

A Facebook post read: ‘My thoughts are with my railway family at EMR having to deal with devastating news that train manager Johnny Brown was in the M18 crash and sadly didn’t make it.’

Another read: ‘Johnny Brown, who was simply on his way to work who has been cruelly taken away and lost his life. Heartbreaking – thinking of all affected by this devastating event.’

Another friend shared: ‘You always put a smile on everyone’s face – a beautiful soul with a contagious smile. Rest in peace – sending love to your family and your depot colleagues in those extremely difficult moments.’

Johnny was the driver of a grey Skoda Superb. A second car, a blue Skoda Octavia, smashed into one of the animals.

A third vehicle, a Vauxhall Vivaro, then collided with one of the horses.

The drivers of the blue Skoda and Vauxhall suffered non-life-threatening injuries.

Both horses died at the scene and officers are trying to find their owner.

A South Yorkshire Police spokesperson said: ‘Following a tragic fatal collision on the M18 in Doncaster, we are appealing for witnesses, those with footage, and the owners of horses involved to come forward.

‘At 4.44am on Friday 13 November we were called to reports of a collision at junction four of the motorway. Officers responded to initial reports of two collisions involving two horses and two Skoda vehicles.’

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