Luxury car crushed by tree

The Evening Standard carried pictures of the crushed Aston Martin

luxury sports car was crushed under a 15 metre tree that was blown over in London’s heavy winds on Wednesday. The tree landed on the bonnet of the Aston Martin car, thought to be worth £35,000, which was parked on Elia Street in Islington. A pensioner living nearby was trapped in her home by the fallen tree, which stretched across the street. The Evening Standard reported the car’s 30-year-old owner, who declined to be named, said: “My team told me. They thought I had got a prank call from someone. Half the team laughed. Then a couple said: ‘No, it could be real – this is serious, go and check it out.’” After inspecting the damage he added: “It’s not a prank”. The car was reportedly purchased a year ago. A grey Volkswagen was also damaged by the tree. Police closed Elia Street off as tree surgeons arrived to cut the tree into smaller pieces and remove it. Winds in London reached 40mph overnight. Meteorologists said the conditions were unusual for the south of England in May. Charles Powell from the Met Office said: “We normally expect the weather to settle down as we get into summer. We might expect these winds in the north but for it to be across the far south of the UK is a little bit unusual at this time of the year.”