Driver has lucky escape as falling tree crushes BMW
“If I was going any faster it would have been on top of me.”
A MOTORIST came within inches of death when his car was crushed by a falling tree in Newbury.
Mark Dowdall, of Wash Water, was driving home along Andover Drove at around noon last Saturday, (January 23) when the large oak tree came crashing down landing on the bonnet of his BMW Z4 before smashing his windscreen.
The 23-year-old managed to escape with minor injuries but was left shaken by the incident and said that had he been travelling any faster, the accident could have claimed his life.
He said: “It was as if someone had just pushed it over and by the time it came into my eyeline it was too late to react.”
“I think I blacked out because I don’t remember the tree actually hitting the car.
“If I was going any faster it would have been on top of me.”
Mr Dowdall’s friend Jamie Ryder-Philips, who was travelling in a separate car just ahead of the BMW, said: “As I reversed back up to Mark and saw the damage I couldn’t believe it.
“He was just standing there in shock. Seeing the state of the car was really frightening. Had he been just a second further up the road it would have come down on the roof of the car.”
Mr Dowdall, who works as an accounts manager in Theale, had bought the sports car just weeks earlier as an early Christmas present to himself and, despite the car being written off, said he was just thankful the incident did not claim his life.
He said: “I’ve only had the car for about six or seven weeks.
“To be honest I’m not really bothered about the car. It was a lovely car but in the end it’s just a piece of metal – I’m just glad that I managed to walk away from it.”