Baronet claims peacock 'sexually attacked' car

An eccentric aristocrat has put in a £4,000 bill to insurers after he claimed a randy peacock "sexually attacked" an employee's car.

Baronet Sir Benjamin Slade He has put up warning signs at Maunsel House, his 1300-acre estate in Somerset, after the "peacock blue" Lexus was scratched and dented by the amorous bird.



The incident proves the bird is gay, according to Sir Benjamin, because peahens are brown and only males are blue.

He says the male damaged the car because it looked like "another peacock boy". "He attacked the panels so hard that the car needs a total respray," he said.



"The insurers, Lloyd's of London, are not very happy about it. "They've had claims for all sorts of things like lions biting people. But never have they heard of a peacock sexually attacking a car before."

Ornithologist Quenton Spratt, at the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds, said it was likely the peacock saw blue cars as a threat. He said: "I've come across this in the past. I suspect the peacock thinks the car is a bird."

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