A dad and son had a lucky escape after a tree fell onto their car while parked at a Co-op store.

Steve Horne visited the shop in River at about 2pm on Sunday with his 13-year-old son Olly after visiting The Cricketers in Dover.

The pair popped in for a few minutes on their way home to pick up some tissues and as they were leaving the shop they heard the tree hit his Hyundai.

Mr Horne, 46, says: “I didn't see it but I heard this huge crash as I left the shop.

“People who saw it say it hit my car, bounced off and then hit the car next to us. It also took another car's wing mirror out.

“The tree went through the windscreen and would have hit where I was sitting. Inside the car was glass shattered everywhere and all the lights were smashed. My car has been written off now.”

Thankfully nobody was injured but Mr Horne, from Tower Hamlets, says it could have been a very different story.

“The weird thing was, I said to my son, ‘stay in the car, I'm literally popping in to get some tissues’ and he said no I'll come in,” he explains.

“We got the tissues, my son looked for some sweets, paid for them, came out and that’s when we heard it.

“We can't have been more than four or five minutes.

“My son is a little bit shaken up, he said ‘imagine if I stayed in the car’ so we did have a lucky escape.”

Soon after the incident fire crews arrived at the scene and the car park was closed off. It remains shut today.

Mr Horne’s Hyundai i30 was eventually towed away and has been written off by his insurance.

The dad is now waiting to hear back from the Co-op and is calling for the trees, some of which he says are rotten, to be managed before someone is injured.

A spokesperson from Kent Fire and Rescue Service said: “Crews were called at 1.59pm to reports a tree had fallen onto two vehicles and a garage in Lower Road, Dover.

“One fire engine and the technical rescue unit attended, and crews used specialist equipment to remove the tree and make the scene safe.”

The Co-op has been approached for comment.