ONLOOKERS watched in horror in Coleford when a tree fell down on the Railway Drive car park, and crashed onto a car containing three young children.

The drama began at around 10.30 on a Monday morning, when the driver of the car parked up and went to get a push chair from the boot. As she did so, the tree fell directly onto the vehicle, with a sound that was described as 'like a lightning bolt'.

Luckily, the occupants of the car are said to have escaped without serious injury, but onlookers were concerned that a council officer who visited the site soon after, made it very clear that the council would accept no responsibility for the tree fall.

Review reader John Smith of English Bicknor was an incensed eyewitness to the incident.

He said: "I heard screams of shock and horror across the car park as she (the driver) desperately tried to recover her young children from the stricken vehicle.

'Many people witnessed the horrific scene and made comments that the council must be made responsible.

"The council refused to accept responsibility for any such circumstances of nature. At the scene a council officer made it very clear that it would be futile to even contemplate making a claim against the Forest of Dean District Council.

"A place paid for by a ticket must be fit for purpose. Not, it seems, in the case of paid for car parks in Coleford. The whole idea of a paid for car park is that the vehicle would be safe from the vagaries of the world within its boundaries. And one would expect that the dangers of falling trees would be taken into account.'

He added: 'Two weeks prior to this event a tree crashed into a vehicle in the same car park and had to be cut loose by chain saws. An elderly man was hit by a falling branch."

A spokesperson for the Forest of Dean District Council said: "During the extreme weather conditions on Monday 23 December, a tree located in a Council owned car park was blown over by high winds. Members of staff from the council's direct services team attended the incident, together with the emergency services, and the tree was removed without injury to the vehicle owners. Any claims made in relation to vehicle damage which occurred directly from the incident will be dealt with through the normal council insurance procedures."