A father taking his son to school has described the moment a tree fell in Melbourn this morning, narrowly missing a pedestrian.

Royston Crow: Tom Sheldrick was in his car near where the tree fell. Picture: Tom SheldrickTom Sheldrick was in his car near where the tree fell. Picture: Tom Sheldrick (Image: Archant)

Guann-Yeu Chin was coming out of Vicarage Close with his son at about 8.45am, when the tree fell onto Premier Stores in High Street.

“I was about 30 feet away from the tree,” he said.

“A lady had just walked under the area and we heard a crack and the tree came down. It missed her, fortunately, and fell across the road.

“No-one was injured, thank goodness. Everyone was shocked, obviously, and thankful that it’s probably just property damage.

“Three Shire Tree Surgery employees were working at a property nearby and helped to clear the tree away, making the high street passable once more.”

Royston’s Tom Sheldrick, who was on his way to work in Melbourn when the tree fell, said: “I saw the tree start to tilt, so just touched my brakes then it just crashed through the fence and fell across the road right in front of me and onto the shop front.

“Obviously if I had left a few seconds earlier it could have been a bit of a mess.

“Once I got out and saw how large the tree actually was it made me realise how lucky I was, It certainly made my heart beat a bit quicker!

“It doesn’t bear thinking thinking about if a pedestrian would have been passing underneath – it happened very quickly but at least no one was hurt.”