Woman who offered beloved horse in car swap is astonished to get a free Range Rover from stranger

A woman who jokingly offered to trade her beloved horse for a car after her Volkswagen Golf broke down has ended up with a free Range Rover instead.

Alicia Moss, 27, was left devastated when her silver Volkswagen Golf suddenly gave up, leaving her facing the prospect of finding another car she could not afford.

With little money and few options, the dock worker took to Facebook with a cheeky proposal: she would consider swapping her homebred mare, Pizza, for a vehicle.

What started as a tongue-in-cheek post quickly took on a life of its own, reaching almost one million accounts and attracting more than 170 comments.

Among the replies was an extraordinary offer from a stranger called Pete Wood, who said he had a grey 2008 Range Rover HSE TDV8 that Alicia could simply have.

There was just one condition: she did not have to give him Pizza.

Pete said he had loved Alicia's post and wanted to help her out while making sure she could keep her beloved horse.

Alicia initially thought the offer could not possibly be genuine, but decided to send him a message.

She said: "I put the post up on a whim really. It was a bit of a laugh but also serious at the same time. I thought it could work as a good swap.

"I had nothing to lose at the time. Either way I needed some money or a car.

"On the post a guy commented saying he had a Range Rover that I could have free of charge so that I could keep my horse.

"I thought it couldn't be real, but I messaged him. He didn't want a swap, he wanted me to keep my horse and to see his car go to good use."

The Range Rover had been bought new by Pete 18 years ago and was around an hour away from Alicia.

A week after their unexpected Facebook exchange, she travelled to collect it.

The four-wheel-drive had around 95,000 miles on the clock, passed its MOT and, according to Alicia, was working perfectly.

For a woman with four horses, the unexpected gift has proved particularly useful.

Not only does she now have a replacement car, but the Range Rover means she can also look at towing a trailer for her horses.

Alicia said: "That was a really happy ending. It has worked out really nicely for me and him and my horse.

"When we went and picked it up he was the loveliest guy ever. I am so grateful for what he offered.

"He just said that he absolutely loved my post. He was so genuine. He will definitely be on my Christmas card list.

"It is really crazy. Things like that don't really happen to anyone let alone me."

For Alicia, the most important part of the story was being able to keep Pizza.

She has four horses and had considered selling the mare because she was the only one old enough to have enough value to help solve her financial problems.

But the thought of losing Pizza, her first homebred horse, was clearly painful.

Her unusual name comes from a family joke made while her mother was pregnant, with Alicia's family saying that "the pizza was in the oven" rather than referring to a bun in the oven.

Alicia describes Pizza as being like an "overgrown Labrador" and says the mare is incredibly sweet.

She added: "I have no money and the only other asset I had to sell was my horse, Pizza.

"I didn't want to ship her off but needs must. Sometimes you have to do things you don't want to. But luckily thanks to this lovely guy I didn't need to.

"I am so glad that she is safe. She is like my first child."

Alicia now intends to keep in touch with the stranger whose generosity transformed her situation, sending him updates on his former car.

And, so far at least, there has been no repeat of the breakdown drama that started the whole extraordinary chain of events.

She said: "In a time where there is so much going on in the world there is always someone out there just trying to do a nice thing, and it goes a long way.

"He has done a lot for me without probably even realising what he has done."