Macclesfield man’s lucky escape after tree smashes through car

A man who narrowly escaped from his car after Storm Claudia brought a tree crashing down on to the roof has said he is “very lucky” to have survived.

Stephen Wise was driving on Manchester Road in Macclesfield earlier when the trees branches smashed into the front of his car, and broke the windscreen glass.

Mr Wise, from Macclesfield, said: “I thought the tree was going to hit me in the eyes and I felt all the glass coming in at me.”

It comes as Storm Claudia batters the UK with heavy rain and flooding, causing disruption across the country.

He was one of three drivers affected by the incident, but nobody was injured, Cheshire Fire and Rescue Service said.

Mr Wise had just dropped his step-daughter off to school and was driving home.

He described the moment he saw the tree falling as “scary and shocking”.

“Everything exploded around me,” Mr Wise told BBC Radio Manchester.

“The window caved in, the airbags went off, and I felt the car being squashed.”

He added that drivers around him were “very supportive” and called emergency services.

Police, the fire service, and paramedics arrived shortly afterwards.

He said: “I got checked over by the ambulance team and now I’m in A and E.

“I feel very lucky because if the tree had been another foot forward the main part of it would have gone straight through the windscreen and into my head.”

Elsewhere the county, people had to be evacuated from a house in Bollington after it was damaged by a fallen tree.

Firefighters arrived on the scene at Clarke Lane to find three houses had suffered structural damage, and power lines brought down.

Road closures and cordons are in place while the stability of the tree and the buildings are assessed, Cheshire Fire and Rescue Service said.