A couple's renovated home has been wrecked after a lump of ice fell from an aircraft and crashed through their roof.

Glennys and Geoff Dalby, from Leigh near Tonbridge, were on holiday in France when a neighbour heard a bang and noticed a big hole in the roof of their garage.

Mrs Dalby, 79, and her husband have spent hours trying to track down the airport and airline responsible but has hit a brick wall.

She said: "We were away on holiday and a neighbour phoned me to say an awful thing has happened and a great big piece of ice had fallen onto our garage.

"Our neighbours heard a loud bang. He looked out of his window and noticed the hole in the roof and put two and two together.

"I phoned my son-in-law who came over and nailed a piece of tarpaulin over the hole."

Mrs Dalby, who lives in Church Hill, has contacted Gatwick and Heathrow while also emailing the chief executives of airlines in an attempt to find out whose plane was behind the £500 worth of damage.

Following a few inquiries she was informed seven planes had travelled overhead at the time of the incident at around 12.15pm on Sunday, September 16.

Mrs Dalby said: "While I was in France I looked online and saw the thing to do was to contact the CAA (UK Civil Aviation Authority) who have a lot on their website about falling ice.

"I got a file number back and they are saying they have no obligation to follow it up.

"I’m so exhausted. I have butted my head against a brick wall because nobody wants to know."

The couple have lived at their home for the past six years following a complete refurbishment of a 1970s chalet-style bungalow.

They now face the unwanted hassle of their insurance premium rocketing as the insurance company foots the repair bill.

Mrs Dalby added: "The insurance company has said they will cover it but with a big but. We have to pay a £100 excess and the premium will go up.

"They have said it is probably going to be in the region of £500 to repair. Hopefully that will included the storage boxes.

"All of the timbers are new. It isn’t like the piece of ice went through an old house."

There are around 2.5 million flights that travel through UK airspace every year. On average, 25 ice fall incidents are reported, nationwide, to the CAA during this time so the chance of experiencing property damage due to falling ice is extremely low.

It is usually assumed that ice falling from the sky is aviation related but incidences have been reported worldwide of large lumps of ice, known as megacryometeors, falling from the sky, despite there being no clouds and no aviation activity nearby. This phenomenon is still under investigation by scientists but the origin of the ice is still unknown.

While ice falls from aircraft are rare, ice can form on the outside of an aircraft when it is cruising at high altitude and as it descends into warmer air, these chunks may break away and fall to the ground.