Council leader David Christian (Hills) put forward the suggestion at last week's council meeting in a bid to save money and keep the town clean.

'We don't have the true cost of tramway services – it's lost in street cleaning,' he said.

Mr Christian said there was no forward planning for the horse trams and the service just kept 'clip clopping along'.

He suggested the horses wore nappies, as horses-drawn carriages in Blackpool and other places do, with a bin at either end of the promenades for the waste.

The manure collected would be used as fertiliser by the parks department.

Tram conductors were slated by councillors with Mr Christian and Ritchie McNicholl (Murray's) calling for them to be axed.
Mr McNicholl said the argument that conductors were needed on health and safety grounds was countered by the problems experienced over the summer of conductors riding at the front of trams and smoking.

'One way or another we have got to save some money, otherwise there will be a public outcry about the loss of the horse trams or the cost to the ratepayers,' he said.

Mr Christian added: 'They (conductors) aren't there for safety of the passengers they are there to get a suntan.'

Keith Teare (Derby) said: 'We have got to keep these horse trams going better than they are. We can't leave it down to one driver on their own unless we bring the double deckers in and close the back end off.

'You can't go modernising the trams because they are vintage heritage.'
Leisure services chairman Raina Chatel agreed to look into the use of nappies.

She said two people were needed on the trams because of health and safety.

Problems with the trams were more or less sorted by the end of the summer but the regulations would be pointed out to staff at the beginning of next season.

WHAT DO YOU THINK?
Send your comments to newsviews@newsiom.co.im

YOUR COMMENTS

Is the government stupid? nappies on horses, what next!!! It's part of life what is wring with a bit of horse muck on the road it is part of the Isle of Man
CCR

Absolute madness! I thought this article was actually a joke at first. Has David Christian completely lost the plot?
LEON SALE

Whilst they're at it can they put nappies on the seagulls as well please ?
DH

The idiocy and ineptitude of Douglas corporation truly knows no bounds. Horse Nappies??? Surely another cost... Having said that, as everyone knows, horses fall into the low income class, and as such should be eligible for DHSS support on all nappies. (Although these would be of the washable variety - sad news, indeed, for the conductors!) Perhaps rates could have been saved by not building a hideously over-priced golf shed that only 0.001% of Douglas residents will use, or (dare I say it) not having spent the huge amount of money renovating/lighting Derby Square park in order to promptly close it as soon as darkness falls. Perhaps Douglas Corporation should save all their cash until the Magic Bean Salesman next arrives in town.
DAVE KELLY

Is this all David Christian has to spend his time on? He will be wanting nappies on the seagulls next.
SB

Nappies is the wrong word and guaranteed to raise the heckles, as it clearly has, a phrase chosen by journos? This is a sensible solution to an obvious problem, no one can be happy to walk past a pile of poo whilst crossing the prom, some finds it way right in the middle of the crossings, the 'integrated horse waste collection device' is simply part of the tack & hangs behind the horse. I've seen them used when on hols in Prague and thought at the time they were a great idea, this solution should be applauded, they had just better make sure its fully thought through as we don't want to see a big pile of s**t when you come out of the sea terminal!
KEV

Further to people's comments about nappies on Horses, people are thinking about nappies on babies, these horse nappies are nothing like this, it is a piece of canvas which is fitted to the rains of the horse and the muck is collect in the canvas, if you go to any city where they have horse and carriages you will see these nappies. I think it is a good idea and people will think so once they see them fitted to the horse trams.
NS

I would suggest David Christian be made walk behind the trams and clean up after the horses for that comment.
SANDY, Douglas

As a regular TT visitor I can apreciate David Christian's comments, it's very slippery dangerous stuff. But seriously to quote the Americans he's full of horse s**t. I hope that the corporation can find something better to spend the rate payer's money on.
SAM, Kidderminster, Worcs

Lets face it, the tram horses are a waste of the rate payers money regardless of which way you look at it. What does the £250k+ per year go on? Wages. It certainly is not on quality food/bedding/farrier fees/veterinary treatment for the horses themselves. It might be an idea to get the very basics of the horse care on track before adding something else to the equation. By putting "nappies" on the horses, which like others have said are not your average white pampers, would be saving on road sweeping, but adding to the work of the stable hands who are paid well over what normal 'grooms' are paid. Catch 22.
LN

Just shows, once again how behind the times we are. These things have been used on horses in Central Park for years and saves lots of money on clean up costs. Go ahead with it and don't make any fuss about it. It's the sort of thing that could have been done and no-one would have even noticed - why even ask the public's opinion on it? Just do it and stop the prom stinking of horse poop!
ROB COOLE

Collecting the manure at the source for subsequent use on flowerbeds is a great idea; they'll probably use a sling like they do on horse drawn carriages rather than a nappy though. Getting shot of the conductors on the other hand? Who whilst tanning, collects the fares, ensure that the people who board do actually pay or have paid, signal the driver when to stop and when it is safe to start again and escort people across the road to and from the pavement during heavy traffic (especially in TT) – that I just don't understand – I feel sorry for the driver trying to do all that and drive and maintain control over the horse. Have the councillors even considered the health and safety aspect of this idea? For example having a single person walking a shire horse from one end of the tram to the other (to turn the tram around) and the horse panicking? It's happened before and a conductor was knocked out and hospitalised, had there been only one person there it could have been a lot worse. Perhaps it is the councillors who should go if they want to save the ratepayer some money because they quite obviously are not worth the money that they are being paid which would probably pay for six conductors between the two of them!
KYV

I could not believe that there is actually a discussion as ridiculous as this one about horses wearing nappies and the cost of cleaning up horse droppings. Has it not occurred to anyone that the cost of putting the horses in nappies and finding someone to actually do the job must far outweigh the current costs which according to your article are lost in the cost of general cleansing anyway? I no longer live in the Island, would love to return home but when I see this kind of meaningless discussion headlining on your site alongside a refusal for an application for a homeless shelter, I begin to wander what has happened to the priorities of people governing the Island.
ROZ