Storm Austen tree fall misses motorists by seconds

A driver has spoken of how he and other motorists had a lucky escape when a tree plummeted down on to a car on Friday afternoon during Storm Austen.

Barry Boustead was driving down Thornhill Road in Streetly when part of a tree crashed down onto the car in front of him.

He told BBC Radio WM: "If it was one second later, [the driver] would have had the main trunk come down in the middle of the car. It was quite scary. If I was two seconds further forward, it would have been straight down the middle of [my] van, I'm sure."

The driver of the crushed car was uninjured.

Boustead said the trunk of the tree had "ripped in half", and the branches "squashed the roof of the car and broke the windscreen", but that the driver was not injured.

"I was just thankful that the chap in front was okay," he said.

"It was quite scary. For the last two nights I wake up in the night thinking about it."

His vehicle was so close that he said he could hear the tree crunching as it fell down on the car.

Boustead had been driving back from having his van's MOT when the incident happened, and had needed to have a brake component replaced in order to pass the MOT - which he was very grateful for when he needed to slam his foot on the brake as the tree fell.

While he believes the car in front may have been written off, he feels incredibly lucky that no one got hurt.

He said: "Well just, somebody was looking out for us that day. There's no doubt about it."

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