Anger as 'safe' tree falls and wrecks car
Angry residents have hit out at a housing association after a car and garden were wrecked by a falling tree — less than a week after they were assured it was safe.
Stephanie Simpson of Orchard Lane, Codsall, said she had been sweeping up leaves below the tree in her back garden just 20 minutes before it came crashing down during gales last week.
She said the week before she had been assured by a housing official that it was safe for her son Toby, aged eight, and Ajay, four, to play in the back garden — despite being told a fortnight earlier that the tree was in a dangerous condition.
The tree crushed a Volkswagen Golf car belonging to her brother-in-law, and caused extensive damage to a neighbour's landscaped garden during the drama at around 3.30pm last Tuesday.
Miss Simpson, who is 24, said she was advised by a housing association worker that the garden was unsafe for her children when she moved into the terraced property in February this year.
She said earlier this month an independent tree surgeon visited the property and told her the tree needed cutting down.
However, when an expert from South Staffordshire Housing visited last week he assured her it was safe.
"He said it just needed reducing in height, and a brace putting in," said Miss Simpson, who is a full-time mother.
"I told him that I had been told not to let the children play in the garden, he said he could not understand why anyone would have said that. He told me this tree was absolutely safe."
Neighbour Daniel Ball said the tree had destroyed a landscaped garden he had spent around five years creating.
"It must have done around £4,000 worth of damage," he said. "It's wrecked my shed as well."
Mr Ball, a 44-year-old construction worker, said he had reported his concerns about the tree three years, ago, and another neighbour had complained two years before that.
South Staffordshire Housing Association spokesman Richard Evans said: "The gales last week caused problems across the country. We appreciate that a large tree falling and causing damage must have been very upsetting but we have tried to help by getting a team working on the site to remove the tree and clear the area. We have also put up some temporary fencing where needed.
"None of the independent inspections we had on the tree before the gales showed it to be in any way unsafe. We've advised all affected residents to contact their insurers."
See also: Van trapped in Trescott Ford as flash floods strike.