by Lewis Dyson

A couple found out on holiday that a tree branch had fallen on their car which may now be a write-off.

A branch of a willow snapped on Thursday, narrowly missing a blue Mercedes in Kent Avenue, Minster, and fell on Michaela Wood’s blue Citroen C2, which was bought last year for £5,000.

No one was hurt but the branches damaged the driver’s side windscreen frame, which includes part of the roll cage, dented the roof and left scratches on the paintwork.

Mrs Woods, who was camping in Sandwich at the time with her husband Peter and their parrot, said: “My son is a mechanic and he said [the car] is a write-off.

“My neighbour rang me and said, ‘are you sitting down?’

“If you look at it another way, the tree could have come [towards the houses] and it could have come through the bungalow.

“So really I’m quite pleased it went that way, it’s the lesser of two evils.

“The tree should come down. It is absolutely dangerous, it looks weak and it looks rotten.

“I must say that Amicus- Horizon have been really good, they phoned me right away. I’m not cross with anybody apart from the tree.”

The tree fell on a windy day and it was seen by residents Shirley and Colin Rendall.

Mrs Rendall said: “I heard it because it came this way and then it went back. Then there was a great big bang.

“There was only a breeze, if the wind gets up any stronger, I think the rest of it will come down.”

“If it goes that way [towards the houses] it could kill someone.”

Mr Rendall said: “An elderly lady comes by every day with her shopping trolley, and she is not the quickest of movers. If she had been there, it would have killed her.”

The Rendalls said a gardener had reported the tree as unsafe to AmicusHorizon a year ago.

Eileen Martin, Kent regional director at the housing association, said: “Our staff immediately attended site and contacted a tree surgeon. By 5pm the tree surgeon had removed the branch and made the area safe.

“We’ve contacted the owner of the car and the issue will be dealt with by our insurance company.

“We regularly inspect and maintain all trees on our property.”