Bel's devoted pet lurcher Sophie run over by buggy

By The Newsroom
Published 7th Aug 2006, 13:51 BST
Updated 7th Jun 2018, 20:07 BST
ONE of the town centre's best-loved characters is back "on duty" after being seriously hurt in an accident.

For the four years that Big Issue-seller Gary "Bel" Hudson has worked his patch outside Somerfield's Devonshire Road store, Sophie his pet lurcher has been his constant companion.

Now a passing shopper in an electric buggy has run over Sophie.

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Regular patrons who have become Bel and Sophie's friends had been stopping to ask anxiously "Where's Sophie?" after the accident.

As word quickly spread, the enquiries swiftly changed to "How's Sophie...?"

For a week Sophie was not a well animal at all. She was injured as she lay on the pavement at Bel's side on Thursday, July 20.

Bel told the Observer immediately after the accident: "It was some time between 1.30 and 2pm.