Video: Tree hits MP's home

Mr Smith, who lives in Maidenbower, had anticipated that an old tree at the front of his home would fall when storm St Jude hit the town, but it was a smaller one in his back garden which toppled instead.

He said: “A tree came down which is quite a shame as it was a lovely tree.

“We had the children sleeping in with us last night because we were worried about the tree out the front.

“About a week ago I was looking at some old plans and those trees were a field boundary.

“They’ve survived the ‘87 one plus my neighbours and I had those crowned a few years ago as there were lots of dead branches. This one (which fell) is probably about 10 years old.

“I think had it been a couple of feet taller it would have done more damage. I think the guttering is going to need to be redone. Hopefully that’s it.”

Across the rest of Crawley there were a number of incidents in which large trees fell, some doing damage to properties.

Mr Smith said: “I’m pleased there are no reports of injuries around Crawley. Whilst it’s upsetting for a tree to come down, as long as everybody’s safe around the town, that’s the main thing.”