AN AIRFIELD near Wem was forced to close for several hours on Saturday after part of a hunt strayed into the confines of the runway.

In a now deleted post, Sleap Airfield announced on their social media channels on Saturday that they were forced to close for several hours because of an ‘invasion’ of the runway and surrounding areas by members of a hunt.

“A message for whichever hunt it was today - it is not ok for your dogs and horses to invade the runways and grounds of an active airfield, causing three of our aircraft to divert due to us being forced to close,” said the post.

“Apologies to our customers, who either had their flights cancelled, or delayed for hours because of this incident.”

Nathan Cross, airfield manager confirmed on Monday that there was an incursion into the grounds of the airfield, forcing them to close for safety reasons.

He also added that no horses had breached the perimeter and it seemed like it was just a “splinter group” of dogs involved.