Driver has lucky escape after tree crushes car yards from preschool

A tree has snapped and crushed a car during Storm Éowyn with the driver said to have been inside at the time and had a lucky escape
-Credit:Jamie Tate


A driver had a very lucky escape after a tree fell and crushed his car yards from a pre-school centre. The tree came down in Glebe Fields in Curdworth near Sutton Coldfield just in the Warwickshire border, at around 11am on Friday (January 24) during Storm Éowyn, with high winds battering the UK.

The tree crushed the front of the silver hatchback, believed to be a Dacio Sandero, landing on the driver’s side and also smashing the rear window. But remarkably the driver, who was believed to be in the car at the time of the tree fall, or had left moments before, escaped uninjured.

Read more: Storm Éowyn in city amid cancelled flights and warning for high winds - updates

The tree also fell yards from Curdworth Preschool, with parents due to pick their children up around an hour later. But thankfully the only damage was caused to the tree which looks to have snapped at its trunk, and the car.

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Jamie Tate, whose son, Junior aged two, attends the preschool centre had arrived to pick him up. He told his dad: “Big tree fell. Very loud bang. Scary!”

Another view of the crushed car in Glebe Fields in Curdworth outside the village's preschool centre
Another view of the crushed car in Glebe Fields in Curdworth outside the village's preschool centre -Credit:Jamie Tate

Jamie continued: “My son and the other children were inside the building at the time but often play outside under supervision The tree fell at about 11am which is one hour before pick-up time.

“Thankfully all the children are OK and in the building. Where the tree landed is exactly where the parents wait to collect the children. I believe the driver was in the driver’s seat at the time.”

A spokeswoman for West Midlands Ambulance Service said: “We were called just before midday to a tree that had fallen onto a car in Glebe Fields, Curdworth. One ambulance attended the scene. Upon arrival we found a man from the car who was uninjured. He did not require treatment from ambulance staff and received self care advice before being discharged at the scene.”

A closer view of the driver's side of the car, believed to be a Dacio Sandero hatchback, which has been crushed when the tree came down during Storm Éowyn
A closer view of the driver's side of the car, believed to be a Dacio Sandero hatchback, which has been crushed when the tree came down during Storm Éowyn -Credit:Jamie Tate

He continued: “A big tree fell in the churchyard behind the preschool as well in the last storm and I nearly got killed by one myself about 10 years ago in Curdworth. Very dangerous.”

The incident came a little over a month after a man was killed when a tree crushed his car a little under five miles away at the junction of Silver Burch Road and Sutton Road in Erdington. Kher Hussain Shahin sadly died when Storm Darragh blew a tree onto his vehicle shortly after 3pm on Saturday, December 7.