Gales escape

WRITTEN off: Linda Howard’s car

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OAP inches from being crushed
Gale-force winds left a trail of damage and lucky escapes across Oldham yesterday.


A man in his 60s escaped with only minor injuries after being hit by a falling tree, which a low wall prevented from crushing him.

And a grandmother from Chadderton saw her car seriously damaged by a falling lamp post.

The tree was uprooted in Broadway, Chadderton; a branch hit the pensioner on the head, knocked him unconscious and trapped him underneath. It came to rest on a low wall and railings. Passing police stopped to help the man, who managed to scramble out after coming round. He was taken to hospital for further treatment.

Ian Lacey of Highbarn Motorcycles - directly opposite the accident site - said: “I could tell it had definitely dazed him, he was talking but looked very shaken up.”

Linda Howard, who lives in Melrose Court, left her Ford Fiesta outside her home when the lamp fell in the early afternoon, just minutes after the fallen tree.

The post collapsed on the car, smashing the front window and crushing the roof.

“I feel like crying,” said Linda. I’ve had the car since it was new and I loved it. I’ll have to get a cheap one now to replace it. I was going to give it to my granddaughter on her 18th birthday because she loves it, so she’s going to be very upset.”

The incidents came in a four-hour period of high winds around the region.