Arundel tree fall survivor Simon ‘a split-second from death’

Simon, 57, of Ford Road, Arundel, was driving his Volvo estate from his workshop at Warningcamp and was almost at the junction with the A27.

“Luckily, out of the corner of my eye, I saw this thing falling. I instinctively slammed on the brakes and it came down across my bonnet and front wing, but half a second later it would have fallen on top of my roof and there’s no way I would have survived it.

“There was a sickening crunch – it all happened so quickly. It’s really shaken me up and my left hand is badly strained, too.”

Two other cars were extensively damaged, a Land-Rover Freelander and a Vauxhall Astra estate. A Mini and a Nissan Micra were also damaged when the tree, belonging to the Norfolk Estate, came down shortly after 1pm.

Roy Shepherd, of Arundel Road, Littlehampton, returned from his job in London to find his car, the Freelander, “smashed to smithereens”.

“At first I thought it had been vandalised, then I saw the note from the police,” he said.