Ashford may have narrowly escaped a visit from a tornado on Saturday after this picture of a funnel cloud was snapped by reader Andrew Brown.

Funnel clouds - a cone-shaped collection of condensed water droplets - often turn into tornados if they touch the ground.

With an interest in meteorology, Mr Brown of Bybrook Road, Kennington, knew what exactly he was looking as he pointed his camera.

He said: “I saw a hook in the cloud that formed directly overhead and I grabbed the camera.

“I would say that the cloud base is typically between 3,000 and 4,000 feet and this funnel cloud was about half of that - about 1,500ft.”

Should it have touched the ground then it is possible that a tornado could have ensued.

Mr Brown said: “I was a bit scared at first - if it dropped it could have made me homeless and injured me.”